E/AB Fair Brochure

SANDOW BIRK E/AB FAIR

October 25 –28, 2018 The Tunnel 269 11th Avenue between 27th and 28th Streets New York, NY Booth A09

catharine clark gallery and mullowney printing For the 2018 E/AB Fair, Catharine Clark Gallery and Mullowney Printing, San Francisco, present a booth of gravures by Sandow Birk from the series "Imaginary Monuments" (2007-ongoing), and a woodcut titled American Procession (2017) co-authored by Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet.

Clark and Mullowney began their collaborative relationship with the release of Sandow Birk's "Ten Leading Causes of Death in America" (2004), a suite of chine-collé, direct gravure etchings.

Between 2006-2007, Paul Mullowney, while working as the Master Printer at the Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center on Maui, Hawaii, published Sandow Birk's "Depravities of War". The fifteen, 48 x 96 inches (121.92 x 243.84 centimeters) woodcuts are based on photo-reportage of the war in Iraq and are rendered after the compositions of Jacques Callot's "Les Grandes Misères de la Guerre" (1633), a suite of etchings that considered the absurdity of violence during the 30 Years' War (1618 – 1648). In 2011, Mullowney and Clark began co-publishing Birk's "Imaginary Monuments", a project that will ultimately comprise ten gravures.

The first work in the "Imaginary Monuments" series, Monument to the Constitution of the United States, was based on Albrecht Dürer's Triumphal Art of Maximilian I (1515). At nearly 144 inches (365.76 centimeters) in height and made from 195 blocks, it is one of the largest woodcuts in existence. Birk and Mullowney sought to reference the monumentality of the Dürer with the first gravure in the series, which was printed from nine copper plates on nine sheets of handmade gampi, resulting in a work that measures 48 x 63 inches (121.92 x 160.02 centimeters).

After becoming a Master Printer at Crown Point Press in San Francisco, California, Paul Mullowney founded and managed studios in Ouda, Japan and on Maui, Hawaii. He has taught at Pacific Northwest College of Art and San Francisco Art Institute, as well as delivered numerous printmaking workshops in the United States and Japan. Named after his grandfather's commercial print studio founded in the early 1900's in Minneapolis, Mullowney Printing was founded in San Francisco in 2011.

Catharine Clark studied the history of art at the University of Pennsylvania prior to founding Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco in 1991. She has studied the history and techniques of printmaking and has exhibited artists' multiples since the gallery's inception. Among other publications, Catharine edited Sandow Birk's American Qur'an published by W.W. Norton in 2015. In 2007, she authored the "Politics of Landscape" for Sandow Birk: The Depravities of War, published by Grand Central Press. Catharine Clark Gallery has collaborated with Paul Mullowney since 2004 and has represented Sandow Birk's work since 1994.

imaginary monuments

Above: Monument to the Constitution of the United States, 2011–2012. Direct gravure etching on nine copper plates printed on nine sheets of handmade gampi paper, joined and backed with sekishu kozo paper. Co-published by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco. Edition of 25 plus 8 proofs. 48 x 63 inches; 121.92 x 160.02 centimeters.

Works in "Imaginary Monuments" depict historical texts housed within proposed monuments that honor or enshrine the text's topic. Most of the monuments incorporate multiple documents, conveying in words and images the complex and sometimes conflicting histories and opinions behind subjects such as the judicial system, incarceration, economics, capitalism, trade, immigration, slavery, freedom of speech, treaties, governance, social justice and civil rights.

Monument to the Constitution of the United States (2011–12), the first gravure in "Imaginary Monuments", is based on a drawing by the same title (108 x 132 ¼ inches; 274.32 x 335.92) created while Birk was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow in Washington D.C. (2007) after he saw Albrecht Dürer's Triumphal Arch, then on view at the National Gallery of Art. Birk's seminal monument drawing, now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, faithfully reproduces the articles of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and all amendments as of 2012. Birk's visual interpretation of these texts, whether as a drawing or gravure, illuminates the ideas in the articles of the Constitution while also illustrating and exposing how US citizens, the government and the courts

have applied and interpreted the texts across time. Birk further shows the Constitution as an evolving document. By representing a building under-construction, Birk leaves space in his rendering for future amendments.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (2012), is the second gravure in "Imaginary Monuments". The source text is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted in Paris on December 10, 1948, and considered the "magna carta of human rights." Birk's transcription encircles a leaning and towering column resembling the obelisk in the Place Vendôme, Paris. It is propped up by scaffolding and foregrounds a skyline of skyscrapers and shacks. The original Universal Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It defines, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected. Birk's monument suggests that at this point in history, given the contrast between the lofty buildings (monuments to wealth and power) and putrefying favelas (monuments to poverty and income inequality), human rights may require some support.

Excavating the Foundation of the Unfinished Temple of Human Rights (2015), is the third gravure in "Imaginary Monuments". Birk has conceptualized the architecture for this monument as an archaeological site where proposals for women's rights throughout US history are being uncovered. The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments, written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton (and others), and the Lucretia Mott Amendment were presented at the Woman's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, July 19–20, 1848. Their statements were the first attempts at passing women's equality legislation. The Declaration of Sentiments and eleven other resolutions were adopted readily, but the proposal for women's suffrage was passed only after impassioned speeches by Stanton and former slave Frederick Douglass, who said suffrage "was the right by which all others could be secured." After the 19th Amendment affirming women's right to vote was ratified in 1920, suffragist leader Alice Paul introduced the Equal Rights Amendment in 1923 as the next step in bringing "equal justice under law" to all citizens. In 1972, the ERA was finally passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. The political tide turned more conservative, however, and in 1980 the Republican Party removed ERA support from its platform. Although pro-ERA activities increased with lobbying, rallies and civil disobedience, the ERA failed to get the final three state ratifications that were needed. The Equal Rights Amendment was reintroduced in Congress on July 14, 1982 and has been before every session of Congress since that time. Later bills imposed no deadline on the ERA ratification process. Yet, success in putting the ERA into the Constitution via this process requires passage by a two-thirds majority in each house of Congress and ratification by 38 states. The country remains unwilling to guarantee women constitutional rights equal to those of men in the form of a ratified amendment.

Proposal for a Monument to the Declaration of Independence (and a Pavilion to Frederick Douglass) (2018), is the fourth gravure in the series. The work, like the Douglass speech it references, reflects on how freedom is unequally distributed to people of color. There are two structures represented in the image: one with the Declaration of Independence transcribed on a neo-classical building; the other with excerpts

from What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?, the popular title given to an untitled speech by Frederick Douglass, July 5, 1852, that was delivered to the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Corinthian Hall, Rochester, New York, and represented by Birk as text on the surface of a rock-like structure. Douglass's speech suggests that positive statements about American values, such as liberty, citizenship and freedom, were an offense to the enslaved people of the United States, because the slaves were denied such rights. Douglass compares the treatment of slaves to that of American colonists under British rule and urges Americans to help the slaves as they helped themselves during the American Revolution. A third text is depicted on a panel suspended from a chain extending from the building bearing the text of the Declaration of Independence. This additional text was penned by Thomas Jefferson in the first draft of the Declaration of Independence. In it he denounces the slave trade as "execrable commerce" and slavery as a "cruel war against nature itself." This passage on slavery, which was redacted in the final version of the Declaration, initiated an intense debate among the delegates gathered in Philadelphia in 1776. Birk reproduces the redacted text on a hanging panel, suspended atop shackles casting a shadow on the monument that bears the final version of the Declaration.

Above: Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 2013. Direct gravure etching on four copper plates printed on four sheets of handmade gampi paper, joined and backed with sekishu kozo paper. Co-published by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco. Edition of 25 plus 8 proofs. 62 ½ x 48 inches; 158.75 x 121.92 centimeters.

american procession

Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet. American Procession, 2017. Woodcut from twenty carved plywood blocks. Hand-embellished with gold acrylic. Printed on gampi paper using a Dufa flatbed offset press. Sheets are joined and backed twice with sekishu kozo paper. Printed and published by Mullowney Printing, San Francisco. Three panels: edition of 6 plus 5 proofs; central panel: edition of 12 plus 8 proofs. Overall: 48 x 480 inches; 121.92 x 1219.20 centimeters. Each side panel: 36 x 204 inches; 91.44 x 518.16 centimeters. Central panel: 48 x 72 inches; 121.92 x 182.88 centimeters.

Above: Detail, left panel of American Procession depicting progressives marching to the right. 36 x 204 inches; 91.44 x 518.16 centim Below: Detail, right panel of American Procession depicting conservatives marching to the left. 36 x 204 inches; 91.44 x 518.16 centi

meters imeters

Central panel of American Procession, 2017. Edition of 12 plus 8 proofs. 48 x 72 inches; 121.92 x 182.88 centimeters.

American Procession (2017), is a monumentally-scaled (48 x 480 inches; 121.92 x 1219.20 centimeters), tripartite woodcut, hand-embellished with gold acrylic, co-authored by Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet. The work depicts figures from American history (pre-colonial to the present) marching toward a central image of a triumphal arch in disrepair and a replica of the US capitol that resembles a stage prop. Birk and Pignolet were inspired to create a woodcut of this scale after seeing the Der Fürstenzug (Procession of Princes) mural on the wall of the Stables Courtyard, Dresden Castle, Germany. The mural, made from Meissen porcelain tiles, is the largest ceramic artwork in the world (331 feet wide; 101 meters). It depicts 25 Saxon royalty of the House of Wetting (1127–1904). Originally conceptualized

by Wilhelm Walther between 1871–1876, it was later rendered in porcelain from 1904–1907. Using the scale, palette and composition of Der Fürstenzug as a point of departure for American Procession, Birk and Pignolet replace the royal figures with progressives (left panel) and conservatives (right panel), including many lesser known by the American public. Each group marches toward the central panel depicting an image of a landscape filled with scattered debris: a police car, the Liberty torch, portions of the Hollywood sign, an electric chair, a noose, a rural home and an old tire.

pricing for american procession

Master printer, Paul Mullowney, standing in front of American Procession, 2017.

Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet American Procession, 2017 Woodcut from twenty carved plywood blocks. Hand-embellished with gold acrylic. Printed on gampi paper using a Dufa flatbed offset press. Sheets are joined and backed twice with sekishu kozo paper. Printed and published by Mullowney Printing, San Francisco. Three panels: edition of 6 plus 5 proofs; central panel: edition of 12 plus 8 proofs. Overall: 48 x 480 inches; 121.92 x 1219.20 centimeters. Each side panel: 36 x 204 inches; 91.44 x 518.16 centimeters.

Central panel: 48 x 72 inches; 121.92 x 182.88 centimeters.

Three woodcuts: $35,000 Central woodcut: $8,000

pricing for imaginary monuments Proposal for a Monument to the Declaration of Independence (and a Pavilion to Frederick Douglass), 2018 Direct gravure etching on two copper plates printed on two sheets of gampi paper, joined and backed with sekishu kozo paper. Co-published

by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.

Edition of 25 plus 8 proofs. 44 x 61 inches; 111.76 x 154.94 centimeters. $15,000

Excavating the Foundation of the Unfinished Temple of Human Rights, 2015 Direct gravure etching on two copper plates printed on two sheets of gampi paper, joined and backed with sekishu kozo paper. Co-published

by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.

Edition of 25 plus 8 proofs. 61 ½ x 44 inches; 156.21 x 111.76 centimeters. $15,000

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 2013 Direct gravure etching on four copper plates printed on four sheets of handmade gampi paper, joined and backed with sekishu kozo paper.

Co-published by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco. Edition of 25 plus 8 proofs. 62 ½ x 48 inches; 158.75 x 121.92 centimeters. $15,000

Monument to the Constitution of the United States, 2011–2012 Direct gravure etching on nine copper plates printed on nine sheets of handmade gampi paper, joined and backed with sekishu kozo paper.

Co-published by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco. Edition of 25 plus 8 proofs. 48 x 63 inches; 121.92 x 160.02 centimeters. $25,000

sandow birk and elyse pignolet Since graduating in 1988 from Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, Sandow Birk has been concerned with the politics of contemporary life. Invitations to participate in residencies have brought Birk (and his collaborator, Elyse Pignolet) to international destinations: Alila Villas (Soori, Bali, Indonesia); Auckland Print Studio (Auckland, New Zealand); Ballinglen Arts Foundation (County Mayo, Ireland); CitĂŠ International des Arts (Paris, France); Montalvo Arts Center (Los Gatos, California); Tamarind Institute (Albuquerque, New Mexico). These opportunities have shaped and influenced both artists and specifically, Birk's subject matter whether the "American Qur'an", "Dante's Divine Comedy", "Depravities of War" or "Imaginary Monuments" series. Birk has received prestigious awards and honors including an Honorary Fellowship in the Dante Society of America; a Fulbright Fellowship; a Getty Fellowship; a Guggenheim Fellowship; a National Endowment for the Arts Grant; an Artist Research Fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; and in 2014, he was named a United States Artist Knight Fellow.

Birk's work is represented in the collections of Art Gallery of Ontario, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, Crocker Art Museum, Crystal Bridges, di Rosa, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, J. Paul Getty Museum, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Laguna Art Museum, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Historical Society, New York Public Library, Norton Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Societa Dantesca, and Stadtisches Kunstmuseum. Monographs on Birk's work have included American Qur'an' published

by W.W. Norton (2015), which coincided with a travelling solo exhibition (with Pignolet's ceramics) to Orange County Museum of Art, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, the Sabeel Center and Texas Tech University; Depravities of War, published by Grand Central Art Center (2007), and Dante's Divine Comedy (with Marcus Sanders), published by Chronicle Books (2004 – 2006), Incarcerated: Visions of California in the 21st Century and In Smog and Thunder: Historical Works from the Great War of the Californias, published by Last Gasp (2001 and 2000). All publications were accompanied by attendant exhibitions.

In 2001, Birk began collaborating with Elyse Pignolet. Pignolet is an American with Filipino heritage, who attended California State University, San Francisco, and graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University, Long Beach. Pignolet and Birk have traveled extensively to research their collective and individual projects. When participating in artist residencies outside of the United States they are often accompanied by their two children. They live in southern California. In addition to representing the career of Sandow Birk, the gallery has exhibited projects in which Birk and Pignolet have collaborated.

Birk has worked with Mullowney Printing since 2004, and has been represented by Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, since 1994. Catharine Clark Gallery has exhibited collaborative projects by Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet since 2008.

E/AB Fair | The Tunnel

Sandow Birk | Imaginary Monuments II

October 25–28, 2018 269 11th Avenue, New York | Booth A09 Presented by Catharine Clark Gallery and Mullowney Printing. Featuring the series "Imaginary Monuments" by Sandow Birk and American Procession by Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet.

415.519.1439 | cc@cclarkgallery.com 415.471.5840 | info@mullowneyprinting.com

Media Room: Rob Carter | The Visitors October 20–December 22, 2018 Catharine Clark Gallery 248 Utah Street San Francisco, CA 94103 cclarkgallery.com 415.399.1439

Above: Excavating the Foundation of the Unfinished Temple of Human Rights, 2015. Direct gravure etching on two copper plates printed on two sheets of gampi paper, joined and backed with sekishu kozo paper. Co-published by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco. Edition of 25 plus 8 proofs. 61 ½ x 44 inches; 156.21 x 111.76 centimeters.

Front: Proposal for a Monument to the Declaration of Independence (and a Pavilion to Frederick Douglass), 2018. Direct gravure etching on two copper plates printed on two sheets of gampi paper, joined and backed with sekishu kozo paper. Co-published by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco. Edition of 25 plus 8 proofs. 44 x 61 inches; 111.76 x 154.94 centimeters.