San Francisco, CA: Catharine Clark Gallery presents Imaginary Monuments, a solo exhibition of new work by Sandow Birk. On view October 24, 2015 – January 2, 2016, the exhibit features several new drawings and one new direct gravure print in Birk’s on-going Imaginary Monuments series, in which the artist combines foundational and iconic texts with fantastical and imagined architecture in large scale works on paper. Birk will be present for the exhibition opening on Saturday, October 24, from 3-5 pm.
Since debuting the series in 2007 with the drawing Monument to the Constitution of the United States (now in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art), Birk has created numerous drawings and three large scale gravures as part of this project over the last eight years. Subjects of his latest drawings tend towards broader themes, incorporating the text of multiple seminal documents in one work in an effort to portray the complex history behind topics germane to current events and consciousness. True to form, Birk unabashedly portrays controversy. In Proposal for a Monument to the Prison Industrial Complex (2015), and Proposal for a Monument to the NYPD (2015), Birk addresses head-on the firestorm of current events and polarized opinions concerning law enforcement, the use of force, and criminal legislation in the United States. Birk takes a lighter tone with work created in the past year: Proposal for a Monument to the Free Sea (2015), Monument to the National Parks (2015), and Proposal for a Monument to World Football (2015), laud the historical efforts that crafted enduring access to and preservation of these internationally beloved treasures and shared experiences.
This exhibit marks the debut of Birk’s latest etching, Excavating the Foundation of the Unfinished Temple of Human Rights, the third gravure in the Imaginary Monuments series. The work contains text from various iterations of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) a proposed bill to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for women. Originally written in 1923, the amendment was proposed under several different names until it passed both houses of Congress in 1972, but failed to be ratified by enough of the states to become law. Co-published by Catharine Clark Gallery and Paul Mullowney, the print is a direct gravure etching from two plates on handmade gampi paper, backed with sekishu kozo paper, and is available for acquisition at a pre-publication price, through the opening night of the exhibition. Pricing and more information: cclarkgallery.com/exhibitions/birk-imaginary-monuments-2015
On November 21, 2015, Catharine Clark Gallery celebrates the book launch of American Qur’an, a W. W. Norton publication of the 427 full color, to-scale reproductions of Birk’s original gouache suras. Now appearing in full for the first time, this lavishly designed volume melds past with present and East with West, like nothing before it. The result, hailed by Reza Aslan as, “a great favor, not only to Muslims, but also to Americans,” is one of the most original art books to appear in decades. Signed copies of the book available for purchase at the event for $100. For more details and a timetable of events please check: cclarkgallery.com/events/birk-book-launch-holiday-party-2015.
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