19th, 20th & 21st Century Fine Prints
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ENCORE! by David Avery
ENCORE!
David Avery
ENCORE!
David Avery
1952 - PRESENT (biography)David Avery said of this print: "I am often finding material and ideas in the work of the master engravers and etchers of the past 400 years, ideas that reflect in interesting ways on our current predicament. My etching, Encore!, is part of a loosely connected group of prints I seem to keep doing, inspired by Della Bella’s striking series of etchings, The Five Deaths, from the 17th century. These works deal tangibly with the reality of death in everyday life, something our current viewpoint seems to preclude.
"So, the mass extinction event occurring before our eyes is the theme I was involved with in this work, and I attempted to treat it with the black humor appropriate to the subject. Extinction due to our continued and seemingly enthusiastic embracing of the destructive practices, fossil fuel use and climate denial for what? --in order to make a buck? And as an embodiment of death, what could be more final than extinction, where regeneration is no longer possible?
"Encore! was completed at the beginning of our sheltering mode, and as I was finishing up the thought came to mind of the interconnectedness of things—sea level rise, mass extinction, fire tornadoes, hurricanes, and now, Plagues? If we want to avoid being the next passengers on the extinction express, we need to embrace that part of human nature which allows us to see our situation and to aspire to do something about it."