Davis Museum Acquisition
Elyse Pignolet and Sandow Birk's American Procession
Acquired by the Davis Museum
Sandow Birk & Elyse Pignolet
American Procession, 2017
Three panel, offset relief woodblock, printed in 20 panels on gampi paper, backed with sekishu kozo paper,
with hand-painted gold embellishment, presented as three scrolls in custom linen box.
Edition of 6 + proofs; edition 5/6
Overall dimensions: 48 x 462 inches
Printed by master printer Paul Mullowney, assisted by Harry Schneider, Erin McAdams, Keisha Mrotek
Track 16 is delighted to announce that Elyse Pignolet and Sandow Birk's American Procession woodblock prints have been acquired by the Davis Museum at Wellesley College.
A panorama of American icons and ideology, American Procession consists of 3 enormous woodblock prints. Two measure 3’ x 17’ and a third central panel is 4’ x 6’. The work was inspired by the Procession of Princes, a very long mural on the exterior wall of the Dresden Castle in Germany. It depicts a mounted procession of the rulers of Saxony, with the earliest kings leading the parade, which was intended to visually inspire an orderly acceptance of ruling lineage. In Pignolet and Birk’s American Procession, one long panel depicts Progressives from history marching to the right, while the other depicts Conservatives from history marching to the left. Both processions head toward confrontation and the central panel, which depicts a Triumphal Arch in ruins amid the scattered debris of Americana. The woodblocks were carved in sections by the artists in their Long Beach studio then printed by Paul Mullowney at Mullowney Printing in San Francisco.
This September, Track 16 will be presenting new work by Elyse Pignolet. It will be her first Los Angeles solo exhibition.
Sandow Birk
The Horrible & Terrible Deeds & Words of the Very Renowned Trumpagruel, 2017
Lithograph. Series of 11 prints.
15 x 11 inches
Edition of 10
Printed by masterprinter John Pusateri at the Auckland Print Studio
Also acquired by The Davis Museum was Sandow Birk's lithographic series The Horrible & Terrible Deeds & Words of the Very Renowned Trumpagruel which exhibited at Track 16 last year along with American Procession.
Birk’s inspiration came from the book The Adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel, which was comprised of over 200 illustrations by Gustave Dore. Birk describing the genesis of the project said, “While I had only read a bit of the huge volume of the tales of Gargantua, the general idea that there are two big baby giants traipsing around the country and laying wreck to everything due to their bumblings and ineptitudes seemed like a perfect parallel to our president.” The series was produced in New Zealand with master printer John Pusateri at Auckland Print Studio. Birk has produced many prints over the years, but this was the first time that he drew directly onto the stones to create the images. Over the course of a two month residency they completed a suite of 11 prints.
