Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet’s enormous print project, "American Procession," inspired by “Der Furstenzug (The Procession of Princes),” in Dresden, Germany, plays off of the concept of Heroism by depicting an imaginary parade of figures from American history. Beginning with the oldest in the back of the line and proceeding forward through time, the personalities are those who made remarkable contributions to their times – for better or for worse. Rather than solely depicting the standard well- known figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and John F. Kennedy, the majority of figures in this procession are more thought provoking and polemic. The artists hope to offer a way to rethink how we arrived at the current state.
The project consists of three enormous woodblock prints, two measuring three-feet by seventeen-feet, and a third central panel four-feet by six-feet. Each long panel depicts opposing sides of the political spectrum, spanning US history from the country’s founding to the present day, moving toward confrontation and the central panel, which depicts a Triumphal Arch in ruins, amid the scattered debris of Americana – a police car, the Liberty Torch, bits of the Hollywood sign, an electric chair, a noose, a rural home, an old tire, while a helicopter and blimp hang over a smoke spewing power plant.
"American Procession" woodblocks were produced by Birk and Pignolet in Los Angeles and printed at Mullowney Printing studio in San Francisco.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view through May 4.
Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet’s enormous print project, "American Procession," inspired by “Der Furstenzug (The Procession of Princes),” in Dresden, Germany, plays off of the concept of Heroism by depicting an imaginary parade of figures from American history. Beginning with the oldest in the back of the line and proceeding forward through time, the personalities are those who made remarkable contributions to their times – for better or for worse. Rather than solely depicting the standard well- known figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and John F. Kennedy, the majority of figures in this procession are more thought provoking and polemic. The artists hope to offer a way to rethink how we arrived at the current state.
The project consists of three enormous woodblock prints, two measuring three-feet by seventeen-feet, and a third central panel four-feet by six-feet. Each long panel depicts opposing sides of the political spectrum, spanning US history from the country’s founding to the present day, moving toward confrontation and the central panel, which depicts a Triumphal Arch in ruins, amid the scattered debris of Americana – a police car, the Liberty Torch, bits of the Hollywood sign, an electric chair, a noose, a rural home, an old tire, while a helicopter and blimp hang over a smoke spewing power plant.
"American Procession" woodblocks were produced by Birk and Pignolet in Los Angeles and printed at Mullowney Printing studio in San Francisco.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view through May 4.
Sandow Birk and Elyse Pignolet’s enormous print project, "American Procession," inspired by “Der Furstenzug (The Procession of Princes),” in Dresden, Germany, plays off of the concept of Heroism by depicting an imaginary parade of figures from American history. Beginning with the oldest in the back of the line and proceeding forward through time, the personalities are those who made remarkable contributions to their times – for better or for worse. Rather than solely depicting the standard well- known figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and John F. Kennedy, the majority of figures in this procession are more thought provoking and polemic. The artists hope to offer a way to rethink how we arrived at the current state.
The project consists of three enormous woodblock prints, two measuring three-feet by seventeen-feet, and a third central panel four-feet by six-feet. Each long panel depicts opposing sides of the political spectrum, spanning US history from the country’s founding to the present day, moving toward confrontation and the central panel, which depicts a Triumphal Arch in ruins, amid the scattered debris of Americana – a police car, the Liberty Torch, bits of the Hollywood sign, an electric chair, a noose, a rural home, an old tire, while a helicopter and blimp hang over a smoke spewing power plant.
"American Procession" woodblocks were produced by Birk and Pignolet in Los Angeles and printed at Mullowney Printing studio in San Francisco.
Following the opening reception, the exhibit will be on view through May 4.
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