UMBRA SUMUS
MAY 30 – JULY 25
gallery open 7 days 9.00 am – 5.00 pm
Art at Wharepuke 190 Kerikeri Road, Kerikeri 0230
Taken from a quote by Horace, ‘Pulvis et umbra sumus’ (we are but dust and shadow) Umbra Sumus is an ongoing project containing photopolymer and acrylic resist etchings, video and sound works.
The work is partly a response to the death, in January 2011, of the artist’s father and also to the wider human condition.
The use of shadows alludes to the movement of light, the passing of time and, ultimately, to mortality. Still images are used for the etchings while the video works allow for an actual temporal experience using the same or similar source material.
The use of photographs, video and found sound relates also to place, and again reinforces the idea of time. Time fixed, or recorded, in a specific place, reproduced then re-presented through video. The shadow source photographs are gathered from different places and countries to emphasise the universal correspondence of shared existence.
Based at Wharepuke in Kerikeri, Mark Graver is an award winning artist and author of ‘Non-Toxic Printmaking’ (London, A&C Black, 2011) and founder of the The Wharepuke Print Studio and, with partner Tania Booth, Art at Wharepuke Gallery.
Mark Gravers work is held in many international collections including the V&A Museum,London, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Whangarei Art Museum, Whangarei, NZ, Jinling Museum of Art, China, Guandong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China, Penang State Art Gallery, Malaysia ,National Museum Of Fine Art, Taiwan, Douro Museum of Printmaking, Portugal, Durban University – Arts for Humanity Collection, Literature and Arts Department, Harbin, China, CONARTE – Non Toxic Printmaking Museum, Monterrey, Mexico, Painting and Sculpture Museums Association, Istanbul Turkey and theJames Wallace Trust, NZ.