INVENTIONS OF NATURE – WOODCUT PRINTS BY EVE STOCKTON
K E N I S E BA R N E S F I N E A R T
INVENTIONS OF NATURE NEW WOODCUT PRINTS BY EVE STOCKTON Kenise Barnes Fine Art is pleased to present INVENTIONS OF NATURE, an exhibition of printed and hand-colored large-scale woodcut prints by contemporary artist Eve Stockton. This is the artist’s second solo show with the gallery who has represented her since 2012. This delightful show is perfectly timed to welcome summer, the perennial symbol and embodiment of nature’s bounty and beauty. Nature is the ultimate creator and a limitless well-spring of inspiration. It is the most often sited influence and catalyst for artists. Nature based artwork persists as the most loved and collected genre. Eve Stockton’s work has always been part of this time-honored continuum. In the artist’s own words; “When I step outside inspiration is everywhere. Nature’s variety and wonders are humbling. How does one capture the evanescent moments of fastmoving clouds, light through the trees or the bursting forth of new life? My images are an attempt to express just such phenomena.” Stockton spends most summer days surrounded by nature, skillfully carving three-foot wood blocks in a remote Canadian cabin. Each hand-carved block is inked and printed on Coventry rag paper. A print is often re-inked and layered with other blocks to create a complex symphony of field and ground, color and form. The artist may further modify the layered print with watercolor or tea-stain, or colored pencil or pen to amplify the composition or to highlight and add drama to particular features. Stockton’s woodcuts are a distillation of the natural world observed and the primordial world she imagines. The varied natural imagery often involves scale shifts, evoking trees, clouds and landscapes as well as cellular activity. A trained architect as well as a professional artist, Stockton’s multi-faceted interests extend to science, environmentalism and art history. Her curiosity is evidenced by her ingenuity in combining ideas and her endless capacity for experimentation within a defined medium. Stockton’s work is widely collected, and included in the collections of Kaiser Permanente, New York, NY, Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA, Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT, Brown University’s D. W. Bell Gallery, Prov., RI, Corstone Capital, Washington, DC, Nemea Museum, Nemea, Greece, New York University/Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, to name a few. Opposite page: Sea/Bloom, variations 6 and 7, 2016 woodcut print with colored and metallic inks on paper 36 x 36 inches, (unframed) (each), edition 1/1 (monotypes), $3625. each (framed)
Blue Podscape III, variation 1, 2015
 woodcut print with marker on paper
 36 x 36 inches (unframed) edition 1/1 (monotype) $3300 (framed on diabond)
Podscape III, variation 6, 2015 woodcut with marker on tea stained paper
 36 x 36 inches (unframed) edition 1/1 (monotype)
 $3625. (framed)
By presenting of certain prints in ensemble groupings, Stockton further explores themes of variation, emergence and evolution within a prescribed visual language.
Clouds, variations 35, 36, 37 and 38, 2015 woodcut prints with colored inks on paper 36 x 36 inches (unframed) (each) edition 1/1 (monotypes) $3450. (mounted on dibond and framed) (each)
Clouds, variation 38, 2015 woodcut print with colored inks on paper 36 x 36 inches (unframed) edition 1/1 (monotype) $3450. each (mounted on dibond and framed)
Stream, variation 3, 2016 woodcut print with colored inks on paper 36 x 36 inches (unframed) edition 1/1 (monoprint) $3625. (framed)
Burst, variation 33, 2015 woodcut print with colored and silver inks on paper 36 x 36 inches (unframed) edition 1/1 (monotype) $3625. (framed)
Burst, variation 36, 2015 woodcut print with colored and silver inks on paper 36 x 36 inches (unframed) edition 1/1 (monoprint) $3625. (framed)
Blue Podscape III, variations 1, 2, 3 and 4, 2015 woodcut print with marker on paper 36 x 36 inches (unframed) (each) edition 1/1 (monotypes) $3300. (mounted on dibond) (each)
Zum/Bloom, Field AP, 2015 and Zum/Bloom Figure AP, 2015 woodblock print with ink on tea stained paper 36 x 36 inches (unframed) (each) $3625. (framed) (each)
Woodland Skyscape, variation. 67, 2016 woodcut print with colored inks on paper
 edition 1/1 (monotype) 36 x 36 inches (unframed) $3625. (framed)
Woodland Skyscape, variations 67 and 68, 2016 woodcut print with colored inks on paper
 edition 1/1 (monotypes) 36 x 36 inches (unframed) (each) $3625. (each) (framed)
Eve Stockton’s woodcuts are inspired by close observation of nature and an eclectic interest in science. Utilizing a multifaceted background in architecture and art, Stockton engages the variables of large-scale printmaking to produce an ongoing body of dynamic, graphic images. Stockton’s prints can simultaneously evoke landscapes as well as cellular activity. She is inspired by the natural world observed and the primordial world imagined. Her imagery often starts off connected to a specific place. She is an avid hiker with a particular fondness for the northern coast of Nova Scotia. Her large woodcuts are printed from three-foot square woodblocks that she hand carves, a different block for each color layer. The scale of these works is mesmerizing, a testament to her mastery of this art form. The presentation of certain prints in ensemble groupings helps Stockton explore her themes of variation, emergence and evolution. Through her careful layering of color (sometimes in combination with watercolor washes and/or tea baths), Stockton’s images challenge perceptions of the natural world around us. Stockton’s prints are made with the assistance of master printers Susan Goldman of Lily Press, Rockville, MD and Chris Shore of The Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Norwalk, CT.
K E N I S E B A R N E S F I N E A R T 1947 PALMER AVENUE LARCHMONT, NEW YORK 10539 WWW.KBFA.COM 914 834 8077 Kenise@kbfa.com Lani@kbfa.com Avery@kbfa.com