Encore! is an etching from 2017 by American printmaker David Avery. It is pencil signed, titled and editioned 10/30. It was printed by the artist on Hahnemuhle Goethe white wove paper and the platemark measures 6-13/16 x 9-3/4 inches platemark.
Avery commented on this etching:
“I am often finding material and ideas in the work of the master engravers and etchers of the past 400 years, ideas that reflect in interesting ways on our current predicament. My etching, Encore!, is part of a loosely connected group of prints I seem to keep doing, inspired by Della Bella’s striking series of etchings, The Five Deaths, from the 17th century. These works deal tangibly with the reality of death in everyday life, something our current viewpoint seems to preclude.
So, the mass extinction event occurring before our eyes is the theme I was involved with in this work, and I attempted to treat it with the black humor appropriate to the subject. Extinction due to our continued and seemingly enthusiastic embracing of the destructive practices, fossil fuel use and climate denial for what? --in order to make a buck? And as an embodiment of death, what could be more final than extinction, where regeneration is no longer possible?
Encore! was completed at the beginning of our sheltering mode, and as I was finishing up the thought came to mind of the interconnectedness of things—sea level rise, mass extinction, fire tornadoes, hurricanes, and now, Plagues? If we want to avoid being the next passengers on the extinction express, we need to embrace that part of human nature which allows us to see our situation and to aspire to do something about it.”
David Avery, born 4 February 1952, has been creating finely detailed black and white etchings in San Francisco for over thirty years. Originally trained as a classical musician, Avery discovered etching almost by accident in a class at a local community college. After learning the basic techniques, he intently pursued his own course of discovery, being essentially self-taught. Over the years, he has developed an exceptional technique and has created a remarkable body of finely wrought miniature etchings and drypoints. He prefers printing in black and white finding the subtleties and tonalities most capable of creating the psychological mood that allows his work to be effective.
Avery has a long and active exhibition history and his prints have earned him numerous awards and honors. He has been a member of and exhibited with the California Society of Printmakers, the Washington Printmakers, and the Society of American Graphic Artists. His works are represented in the collections of the Fogg Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Turner Print Museum, California State University, Chico, California; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; the New York Public Library, New York; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California; Stanford University Library, Special Collections, Stanford, California; and the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
