Canceled Edition,
Site-specific installation, individually cut, woodcut, hand painted prints of dead Ivory Billed Woodpeckers.
Viewers are encouraged to participate in the installation by removing a bird from the wall and taking it home. (Please read instructions on the pedestal in the center of the room).
Artist Statement: The Ivory Billed Woodpecker was the largest species of woodpecker in North America. Once a prominent species within Louisiana, the birds were last sighted in the 1940s and are believed to be extinct.
“Environmentalism” is a subject commonly politicized and reductively treated, but the science of a warming planet shows the nuances of collective human consequences. This piece intends to lift the shroud of innocence and demonstrate that in a world shedding species at an hourly rate we are all connected. Canceled Edition explores innate human desires with the hope that a more honest address of those desires can contribute to a better understanding of how we live on this planet.
Also endangered, the field of printmaking contends with the dominance of the digital in the 21st century. This exhibit celebrates printmaking with every hand printed bird (and hand-painted male heads) in Canceled Edition. Utilizing screenprint and woodcut practices, and with thousands of labor hours hand cutting and painting prints, the exhibition uses print technology to imagine the future.
This installation is site specific to each location and has been exhibited at Tulane University, 2017, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts (UICA) in Grand Rapids, Michigan 2017, the Contemporary Art Center (CAC) in New Orleans, 2017, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New Orleans, 2018. Coming soon: On display at Biennale internationale d’estampe contemporaine de Trois-Rivières
This project took thousands of hours and many helping hands. Thanks to the Newcomb Art Department at Tulane University, Pippin’s parents, Chris Staudinger and many others.
