Artifacts

Two-color etching with aquatint. Image size: 12” high x 9” wide. Paper size: 19” high x 15” wide.

Exhibited at Paso Robles Public Library, July and August 2023 (solo exhibit). Second place, Intaglio Etching, California Mid-State Fair fine arts exhibit, 2021.

A study in the charm of verisimilitude (the appearance of being true or real), and more. The follow-up to David’s Relics. An homage to his collection of discarded and found pop tops. A nostalgic reminder of an era as told through its then-ubiquitous bit of flotsam. (David discovered that younger generations don’t always know what these items are.) And yes, even a comment on humanity and its realtionship to the environment.

“Artists with interest in technical considerations such as reflection and reproduction have engaged with the still life genre for centuries. In its seventeenth-century heyday, verisimilitude was deemed a critical component of the technical success of any such work, ostensibly providing an accurate record of inanimate objects — often layered with symbolic content. In today’s artistic practice, however, such precision is no longer a categorical requirement. Though artists continue to render common things in their artwork for both symbolic and literal ends, the object’s essence is routinely conveyed in myriad ways.” From the introduction to the exhibit Ordinary Objects / Wild Things, December 15, 2018 – July 14, 2019, de Young museum, San Francisco.

These pop tops were collected by David in the last 20 years. On a trip to Lake Tahoe in the late 1990s, at a turnout north of Zephyr Cove, David looked down and saw an old discarded pop top in the dirt. He thought, “This has just been sitting here for almost 25 years, and no one has picked it up!” After that he found them from Yosemite Valley to San Diego, and his collection now numbers near 50. Fascinated by the practically endless variation of form and condition, he decided they were worthy of being the subject of an etching.

Pop tops, pull tabs, ring tabs… whatever you call them, they’re a piece of indestructible litter. And a free souvenir. And now an artifact! Blake De Pastino of WesternDigs.org makes the case in his article At 50, Ring-Tab Beer Cans Are Now Officially Historic Artifacts from April 13, 2015 (updated January 15, 2017).

The lines were laid in as a soft ground etching, followed by aquatint that was then burnished to achieve the variation in tone. (Note the cast shadows with soft burnished edges.) The second color is a solid aquatint to fill the shapes with the white ink (interpreted as the silver of aluminum). Printed on Somerset Velvet newsprint grey.

Elegantly framed by The Artworks, Paso Robles.

Edition coming soon. Framed Artist Proof (AP) available. Please contact David to purchase or for more information. Prices do not include sales tax and shipping.

• Artist Proof - Framed - $400.00

Copyright watermark is not part of print.