SEPTEMBER 15 — November 1, 2023
NO. 007. (2021) BY BARRY EBNER, 30 x 22 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 014. (2021) BY BARRY EBNER, 30 x 22 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 073. (2021) BY BARRY EBNER, 30 x 22 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 127. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 30 x 22 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 28050. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 28 x 20 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 39054. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 39 x 28 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 47007. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 47 x 31 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 165. (2021) BY BARRY EBNER, 30 x 22 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 28075. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 28 x 20 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 39023. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 39 x 28 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 39056. (2021) BY BARRY EBNER, 39 x 28 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 169. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 30 x 22 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 47008. (2021) BY BARRY EBNER, 47 x 31 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 059. (2019) BY BARRY EBNER, 30 x 22 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 39089. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 39 x 28 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 114. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 30 x 22 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 39081. (2021) BY BARRY EBNER, 39 x 28 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
NO. 151. (2022) BY BARRY EBNER, 22 x 30 IN., MONOTYPE, INK ON PAPER
Curator’s Statement
We follow up Barry Ebner’s last solo show “Shadows of the Wind” with a new body of abstract works titled “The Road Taken.” The artist shows a distinct evolution from figuration and gestural urban landscapes into a deep dive into abstraction. What we see are the records of the shifts, and erasure of memory of past impressions on the artist psyche. Provoking the audience to come along for the ride, there’s no turning back with Ebner’s latest, only a view of remnants of distant figures and landscapes. This survey of evolving intaglios and monotypes of abstractions are dense with layering of ink and solvents. Ebner explores mark-making and reflects on the long history of humans leaving evidence of their own existence as a form of self-declaration and advocacy, perhaps an early activism for humanity.
With a growing sense of urgency in evolution and change, Ebner’s mark making brings together a history of interests coalescing in the subconscious by exploring intuitive reasoning, improvisation, and methodology. Self-drawn mapping signifies routes of transformation as the artist discovers and re-discovers passages along the journey. The results transform the meaning of “form” within the existing environments of the monotype. — Lonnie Lee
The Road Taken | Artist Statement
The process of creating art focuses on the humanity of the artist. They internalize the world, synthesize the stimuli into a coherent response, and exhale. The form that breath takes becomes the art to be shared.
This is a key component to how I make my monoprints. In today’s world the idea of borders on maps disturbs me, so my work sometimes echoes a map without the borders, with the hand drawn grid referencing lines being manmade. Coincidingly it alludes to the underlying structure that I am working with and that is present in so much around us.
Another key component is akin to musical improvisation. There is a theme, the marks on the plate create the matrix and I respond with color, brushstrokes, removal of ink and other devices to re-contextualize the theme. Sometimes it is prominent and other times I follow a path that takes me far away from the starting point. The road to the end is seldom paved and often falls short of my destination. The journey is documented in the work and it does arrive at a place different from where it began.
In my work there is constant decision making and conversation between the variation of gestures, strokes and overlays. Each becomes a breath on the journey, a minute that the direction can shift, opening up new vistas or leading to walls and obstacles. The risk of failure, is as educational as success. — Barry Ebner
Barry Ebner | Bio
Barry Ebner is a printmaker who skips between abstraction and architectural in his mono prints.His abstract pieces engage with texture and line as they move into a conversation between figure and ground. His architectural series engages with memory and spaces that hint and conflict.
Barry has been working with printmaking since the late 80’s often focusing on monoprints. He has exhibited work in Europe, Asia, South America along with the US. He most recently taught several workshops in Santiago, Chile. He also has worked collaboratively on projects in Havana, Cuba and in Seattle and Berkeley. In Santiago he put together a 12 person printmaking collaboration between Chilean artists and American artists which culminated in “To Be Determined” an exhibition on monoprints that was in Valparaiso, Chile.
Barry also makes one-off artist books at his studio, The Studio of Nothing Else. These books incorporate monoprint and poetry. When not working in the studio he can be found playing guitar…badly.
He has a MFA from California College of the Arts and a BFA in Studio art from the University of Texas at Austin.
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