Electric Works has announced that David Byrne, lead singer and songwriter for the Talking Heads, will present an exhibit including his drawings from the Arboretum series. Byrne has been involved with photography and design since college and has been publishing and exhibiting his work for the past decade. Like his music, Byrne’s visual work has the capacity to elevate and transform ordinary elements into iconic ones and challenges our fundamental notions of what can be classified as art. His projects also focus on the relationship between our physical exteriors and emotional interiors. Byrne’s work belongs to numerous collections, including the Denver Art Museum and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, N.C.
In Byrne’s own words: “Drawing/diagrams (mostly) in the form of trees, which both elucidate and obfuscate the roots of contemporary phenomena and terminology. Sort of like borrowing the evolutionary tree format and applying it to other, often incompatible, things. In doing so a kind of humorous disjointed scientism of the mind heaves into view.”
In addition, Electric Works announced that artist Dave Eggers will present his first solo exhibition, It Is Right To Draw Their Fur. Working in the vernacular of political propaganda posters, these deftly executed grease pencil drawings feature an ongoing cast of fur-, feather-, and scale-bearing creatures. What seems like an extraordinary balancing act of good humor and earnest pledges of allegiance, Eggers creates a menagerie that speaks to our very human condition. The gallery will be hung with over 100 of these drawings, covering nearly every square inch of wall space. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry.
Dave Eggers studied painting and art history at the University of Illinois before realizing he probably wasn’t good enough to live as an artist. After college he worked as an illustrator, cartoonist and designer, before again realizing he wasn’t good enough at these things to continue doing them full-time. Subsequently he wrote books and continues to write books. He’s also the founder of McSweeney’s and 826 Valencia.
In the Main Gallery
“It Is Right To Draw Their Fur.”
Drawings by Dave Eggers
July 16—August 14
Artist reception: Friday July 16, 6-8 PMIn the Project Space
“Arboretum”
Drawings by David Byrne
July 16—August 14
Artist reception: Friday July 16, 6-8 PMMore information: www.sfelectricworks.com