Showing in October at Davidson Galleries
Showing October 2-31, 2009
First Thursday reception: October 1, 6-8pm
Karen Kunc Order
Wild Remnant, 2009. Woodcut. 18 x 18 inches.
Order presents new prints created in response to living in and conceptualizing on natural and human processes that affect environment, that contrast ways and means, and outcomes for life. Karen Kunc (b. 1952) observes and responds to visual sensations of iconic sources – gridiron scaffolding, repetition of window frames, decaying fragments; she conceptualizes patterns - of channels and pathways as flowing movement or pulsing energy; sounds evoke concentric rings suggestive of rhythmic growth or expansion; aerial perspectives offer viewpoints of suburban sprawl and mining wastelands. The artist considers the imbalances of architecture over nature, of human efforts related in scale to mountain ranges. Kunc’s images are comparative metaphors, as she finds beauty and strangeness in equal measure, as poignantly meaningful concepts on dwelling, gathering, cultivation, networks, encroachments. Her overarching question - on how things come about - is envisioned here as the natural and unnatural order of things.
Within the last several years, Kunc has deliberately provoked her senses by living and working in New York, Vancouver, Italy, Egypt, all around the country, and in Nebraska, her home. She has been evolving the ongoing “Urban/Rural Divide” series, and has moved beyond. Her series leads her to understand that the “divide” is never so clear-cut, and the inevitable order of life is fluid, with shared concerns and sympathies. Therefore, her visual metaphors continue to be related to life cycles, webs and linkages, even as “Darwinian” order prevails.
Karen Kunc is the Willa Cather Professor and Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She has done many artist residencies around the world and has received numerous awards. Kunc’s work can be found in many public collections including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; Univeristy of Washington, Seattle Washington, and the Jyvaskyla Art Museum, Finland.
View previous work by the artist.
Please email or call 206 624-1324 for more information.
Zha Sai Rhythm of Shadows
Undulated Shadow, 2007. Reduction woodcut. 14 x 11 inches.
Rhythm of Shadows is an exhibition of ten reduction woodblock prints by Chinese artist Zha Sai (b. 1974.) These images seek to capture the artist’s impression of the natural environment of the her home in Wuhan, a large city situated on the banks of the Yangtze River in Hubei Province, an area known as the “Thousand Lakes Place.” Zha Sai enjoys the meditative, repetitive quality of and concentration required in carving reduction woodcuts.
Zha Sai was born in Wuhan, studied at the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts and is currently a Professor of Printmaking at the Institute. This is her first exhibition at Davidson Galleries. Concurrent with this show the artist will have exhibitions at Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle; Pacific Northwest College of the arts, Portland OR; and Gonzaga University, Spokane WA.
Please email or call 206 624-1324 for more information.
Eugène Grasset Les Mois
Decembre, c. 1900. Color wood engraving. 8 x 6 inches.
Swiss-born graphic artist Eugène Samuel Grasset (1845-1917) was one of the leading figures in the Art Nouveau movement in Paris. Best known for his iconic posters and his contributions to graphic design—an italic typeface he created in 1898 is still used by designers around the world—Grasset also designed furniture, ceramics, tapestries, and postage stamps. In 1894, Grasset was commissioned by the French department store La Belle Jardinière to create twelve original artworks to be used as a calendar.
Grasset’s delectable wood engravings, depicting beautiful young women in seasonal costumes and gardens that change with the seasons, were issued as a fine art portfolio called Les Mois (The Months) by the Paris publisher G. de Malherbe. Davidson Galleries will be presenting an exhibition of all twelve original plates from Les Mois during the month of October.
Please email or call 206 624-1324 for more information.