ORIGINS
Palm Beach, FL. Nov. 2019- Jan. 2020
PRESS RELEASE ORIGINS
Palm Beach, November 10, 2019. Evey Fine Art is pleased to present "Origins”, an exclusive selection of drawings and mixed media artworks by New York artist Bill Claps, set within the historical context of sculpture and artworks from Greek, Roman and Egyptian Antiquity. The exhibition will run from November 29th through January 30th and will be open Monday thru Saturday from 11 AM to 7 PM.
Throughout his artistic development Claps has referenced art history and looked to the past masters for creative inspiration. His artistic path has followed an evolution that began with a line and developed into his signature process of using contemporary materials and techniques to capture the essence of past artistic traditions.
“Origins” commences with Claps’ sensuous figurative drawings, which concisely capture fleeting moments, charged with dynamic movement, erotic anticipation and delicate vulnerability. Executed in graphite, charcoal and pastel, nudes recline in repose and anticipation, their wavering elongated proportions reminiscent of the spiritual mannerism of El Greco, and the tremulous early line work of Egon Schiele. In the artist’s own words: “My drawings explore the intersection of representation and abstraction, and the line is essential, as its path through the work tells the story and evokes the mood. “
The exhibition not only traces Claps’ creative development back to its origins, but it also pairs his new works of Egyptian desertscapes with antiquities of Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome that narrate simple stories from everyday life, popular culture and folklore, and explore the continuum of life and death. Egypt and its ancient mysteries have captivated the imagination of many generations, sparking time and again new waves of Egyptomania throughout history. The greatest minds of ancient Greece traced back their intellectual origins to this mysterious and infathomable culture. Ancient Rome experienced a resurgence of Isis-Cults, and more recently in the 18th Century Napoleon led an army of soldiers and scholars into the Egyptian heartland to conquer and study this ancient culture, later publishing the monumental anthology Description de l’Egypte and initiating yet another Egyptian renaissance throughout Europe. Yet to this day the profound questions posed by their monumental and mummified remnants remain unanswered: where do we come from and where are we going?
It is the same inherently human search for origin and ingenuity that drives the work of artist Bill Claps, and led him into the Egyptian desert to create an homage to this ancient and still indecipherable heritage. Sensuous desertscapes - created with a unique mixed media process developed by the artist himself that combines photography, printing, painting, and digital technologies - some minimal and close up, others stretching out to the horizon in rippling waves, evoke the spirit of heroic explorers venturing out into the vastness of the unknown. These recent works, shown for the first time in this exhibition, are an extension of his “Natural Abstractions” series, created with source photos he shot in landscapes from around the world, including Asia, the Caucasus Mountains, Cuba and North America.
The question of artistic ingenuity and originality also arises in Claps’ “It’s All Derivative” series. The artist comments on the practice of appropriation and veneration in the art world by combining borrowed imagery from the past with the visual language of Morse code. Reimagined icons from art history and popular culture, embellished with Morse code and finished with his signature gold foil process, reference the use of precious metals by the ancient cultures. Nothing in art is totally original, “It’s All Derivative”.
Throughout history it has been heroes and conquerors like Alexander the great that ventured out into the unknown, exploring the boundaries of uncharted landscapes. Today with most of the world charted, mapped and disenchanted, we look to artists as the visionaries who will enable us to explore the very substance of the human condition, provide us with new perspectives, and inspire us to reach to new heights. The quest to understand our origins - individual or collective - is the single unifying factor of humanity.
About Evey Fine Art Gallery:
Evey Fine Art US represents a network of art agents & brokers operating in the US, Europe and South East Asia with our partner company based in Vienna, Austria. Now opening our new art gallery in Palm Beach, Florida. www.evey-fineart.com
About the artist:
Bill Claps lives and works in New York City. He is a visual artist, filmmaker and writer whose work comments on art history and language. Born in Glen Ridge, NJ, he earned a Bachelor of Arts at Harvard University, where he studied painting and art history. His paintings and drawings have been presented in solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He writes for Artspace.com and Exibart Magazine. www.billclaps.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 11/12/2019
Carla Berenice Groh
Evey Fine Art US - Gallery
+1 773 - 703 - 3480