The American Scandinavian Society presents…

 

DAVID BARTHOLD

Paintings, Drawings & Prints

The American Scandinavian Society is pleased to present an exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Prints by Brooklyn artist David Barthold, curated by Elfi Von Kantzow Alvin. Spanning a wide variety of media, including egg tempera, oil, copperplate engraving, etching, and drawing, this exhibit showcases the versatility and range of this artist over the last decade. Barthold’s subjects include intensely examined portraits of family members and friends, quicksilver sketches of strangers on New York streets and subways, and engraved animal studies that recall the work of northern renaissance masters. On display from February 5 through March 26th.

David is part Norwegian and a valued and active member of the American Scandinavian Society for many years.

Closing Reception

Thursday, March 26 from 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Curated by Elfi von Kantzow Alvin

Location:
King Olav V Church and Norwegian Cultural Center, Trygve Lie Gallery
317 E 52nd St (between 1st & 2nd Aves), New York, NY 10022

View more by David Barthold at davidbarthold.net

 

 

Artist’s Statement

David Barthold

I joined Gowanus Studio Space in Brooklyn in 2010 and began making prints again after a 30 year hiatus. A few months in, having badly underbitten the first state of a large etching depicting the head and shoulders of a rhinoceros, I took out my old engraving tools and started to reinforce the faint lines. I found the results much more satisfying than etching, and completed the plate as an engraving in approximately four months. The result is Sababu, named after the zoo animal on which the image is based.

I had done some engraving in college, but had only a dim memory of how to handle a burin or organize a large image after such a long time away from this discipline, so much of the line work on Sababu is experimental. It’s more a fantasy than a taxonomic illustration. There was a substantial amount of scraping and burnishing along the way.

I struggled through several other large pieces such as Suki and Barus and, with the help of Julia Samuels and Rachel Ostrow, learned how to print an engraving properly.

I’m presently working up a project to produce a monumental, 55” x 32” engraving of the full body of an African Black Rhinoceros. I’m planning to invest in a pneumatic graver, a kind of piston-driven burin, to move the work along at a reasonable pace. I see great possibilities in working with engraving at this scale.

I’d like to give posthumous thanks to Prof. Paul Arnold of Oberlin College, for encouraging me to first pick up the burin in 1978. He just sat me down one day and showed me how to do it. I’m told he had one of my early proofs of Sababu hanging in his bedroom when he passed away in July of 2012.

Brooklyn, New York