CatharineClarkGallery

Direct gravure etching on two copper plates printed on two sheets of gampi paper, joined and backed with Sekishu Kozo paper. Printed as an edition of 25 plus 8 proofs. Signed and numbered 11/25 on the recto in pencil. Co-published by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco.

Image: 56 1/2 x 40 1/2 inches

Sheet: 62 x 44 inches

65 1/2 x 48 inches framed

This recent construction in the artist’s Imaginary Monuments series portrays a monument to the first letter sent by Christopher Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain upon his arrival in the Americas, in which Columbus describes his discoveries from the famous 1492 royal voyage.  The monument both pays homage to and critiques the age of exploration, and subsequent conquering, of the ‘New World.’  The drawing depicts a rough and rolling sea holding a ship with an enormous globe of the world as a sail. Droplets of blood slip off the curvature of an earth filled with trade routes crisscrossing the surface. A jeweled crown crests in the tumultuous waters, and an anchor falls unhooked to the ground and is repurposed as a clothing line by a nearby poverty-stricken village. Birk inscribes approximately three-quarters of the full text of the letter, dating to 1493. Interestingly, this version of Columbus’s missive represents one of three that were published upon the letter’s arrival in Spain due to its immediate popularity.

Medium: Ink and gouache on paper

Dimensions: 60 x 42 inches unframed, 64 ¼ x 46 1/16 inches framed

The idea for using historic texts as central elements in a series of fictional monuments initially developed from Birk’s interest in the etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, an 18th century artist whose series of sixteen imaginary prisons combine dystopian architectural disarray with monumental interiors.  Birk harkens on this inspiration in Proposal for a Monument to the NYPD, which depicts a monument set in a fictional Manhattan plaza, once respected and attended to, but now crumbling, forgotten, and teetering on the brink of collapse.  

The fragile base of the monument, built from remnants of the World Trade Center, and covered with flowers and signs reading “Heroes” and “United We Stand,” is topped by the colossal weight of more recent events.  In the upper section of the monument, Birk has inscribed texts from the NYPD Patrol Guide, which discuss appropriate gun use and situations sanctioning police use of deadly force.  The central circular section of the monument presents the actual text banning police officers from using the chokehold.  Use of the chokehold, however, played a part in the recent death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner.  In 2014, a grand jury elected not to charge the officer involved with the incident.  Subsequent public outcry spurred a pending federal investigation and demonstrations across the United States. 

For the first time in this series, Birk draws upon documents from across eras and continents to portray a subject which affects countries and populations spanning the globe: the laws which govern the seas.  The lighthouse in the drawing portrays the 200 word Preamble from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS).  This document represents more than fourteen years of work and the cooperation of over 150 countries from all regions of the world, representing every political and legal system, and the spectrum of socioeconomic development.  UNCLOS defines the rights and responsibilities of nations with respect to their use of the world's oceans, establishing guidelines for businesses, the environment, and the management of marine natural resources.  The Convention, completed and opened for signature in 1982, replaced four 1958 treaties, and basically solidified long held, customary views of the uses of the sea.  UNCLOS entered into force in 1994, a year after Guyana became the 60th nation to sign the treaty.  Although the United States now recognizes UNCLOS as a codification of customary international law, it has yet to ratify it. 

Fittingly, the base of the lighthouse draws from two historically important texts which, to this day, form the basis for the creation and interpretation of international and maritime law.  The first text dating to the 17th century is by Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius.  Grotius's 1604 treatise, De Jure Praedae Commentarius (Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty) promoted the right of unobstructed navigation, and remains to this day one of the classic texts influencing the rule of law on the high seas.  Grotius’s book on international legal doctrine, Mare Liberum (1609) is generally recognized as a paramount element in the formulation and interpretation of contemporary international law.  The base of the lighthouse structure also contains a quote from President Woodrow Wilson’s speech “The Fourteen Points” given to the United States Congress in 1918, towards the end of World War I.  In it, he mentions (as point 2) that the seas must be free to all nations.  The “Fourteen Points” speech was the only explicit statement of war aims by any of the nations fighting in World War I, and eventually became the basis for the terms for Germany’s surrender at the end of the war. 

This print, the second work in the Imaginary Monuments series, is the representation of a fictional monument to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights—a document intended to solidify the belief in and commitment to basic human rights for all people. The historic pillar or column inscribed with the entire (legible) text of the United Nations’ document is based on the 1871 monument to Napoleon’s victory at the Place Vendôme in Paris. It is shown in a state of decay, as if its foundation were crumbling. The teetering pillar is supported by a makeshift system of pipes, scaffolding, and bamboo, and enclosed behind security fencing, making it inaccessible. The encircling cityscape spans the breadth of the globe, from the floating slums of Asia and shantytowns of Latin America and Africa in the foreground, to a skyline of iconic skyscrapers from international cities.

Co-published by Mullowney Printing and Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco

Medium: Direct gravure etching on four copper plates printed on four sheets of handmade gampi paper, joined and backed with sekishu kozo paper

Edition 25 + 8 proofs

Dimensions: 62 ½ x 48 inches unframed, 66 x 53 inches framed