Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra: Art Edition

Natural selection ?A Ford exhibition is like a storybook in which animals have inherited the earth.' ? The New York Times, New York Walton Ford''s life-sized watercolors of animals could be mistaken for 19th-century natural-science illustrations or British colonial paintings. Except they're not. Something strange and usually sinister is happening in each of Ford''s works, whether it''s a turkey crushing a small parrot with its claw, a collection of monkeys wreaking havoc on a formally set dinner table, or a buffalo surrounded by a pack of bloodied white wolves? in the middle of a proper French garden. Executed with the deft skill of a natural-history artist, Ford''s works vibrate with an intensity of uncanny familiarity; they are both reassuring in style and disturbing in content. With titles like Au Revoir Zaire, Dirty Dick Burton''s Aide de Camp, and Space Monkey, his paintings not only blur the lines between human and animal history, but also open the doors to a world of real-life fantasy, dreams, and nightmares. For this hand crafted, limited-edition volume, Ford''s paintings have been color-separated and reproduced in Pan4C, the finest reproduction technique available today, providing unequalled intensity and color range. The book includes 12 horizontal and 4 vertical foldouts, along with dozens of details, which present the work at a scale that practically allows the viewer to enter the ancient and peopled landscapes, feel the brush of a bird''s feathers against flesh, and experience the hot breath of a wild cat about to go for the jugular. Collected together for the first ever in-depth exploration of Walton Ford''s oeuvre, Ford''s bestiary takes its name from one of the texts hefrequently cites in his work: The Pancha Tantra, the ancient Indian book of animal folktales collected from the 3rd to 5th centuries B.C. that is considered to be the precursor to Aesop''s Fables. Stories derived from many of the texts that served as the germinal seed for these paintings fill the book''s appendix; and an original essay by New Yorker staff writer Bill Buford substantiates the notion that this contemporary artist is more than just one to watch, but one who will stand the test of time. Presented in a handsome clamshell box and limited to a total of 1,600 copies signed by the artist, Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra'available in both Art and Collector''s Editions'belongs in any serious collector''s library. Special features: ? Limited to 100 individually numbered copies, each signed by Walton Ford ? Accompanied by an original six-color intaglio print, Limed Blossoms, created by Walton Ford especially for this book with the cooperation of the Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York ? Printed on acid-free paper ? Finished with a sumptuous calf-leather leather cover with gold embossing ? Packaged in a luxurious calf-leather clamshell box The print: Limed Blossoms is a six-plate hardground etching, aquatint, spit-bite aquatint, drypoint etching with scraping and burnishing. The plate size is 30.5 x 22.9 cm (12 x 9 in.) on 47 x 35.6 cm (14 x 18.5 in.) paper. Working with master printer Peter Pettengill at Wingate Studio, New Hampshire in 2007, Ford used the traditional techniques of line etching, aquatint, drypoint etching, and spit-bite aquatint to make the print. The edition of 100 copies was printed by hand on 100%-cotton archival-quality Rives BFK paper, using an American French Tool etchingpress. Each print is numbered, and personally signed by the artist. About the artist: Walton Ford grew up in Westchester County, New York, in a family of gifted storytellers. As a child he was an amateur naturalist'collecting animals, hiking, fishing, and devoting much of his free time to examining and drawing the dioramas and specimens at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He completed his studies in filmmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1982, but soon adapted his talent for storytelling to painting. His life-size watercolors, which at firstBuford, Bill is the author of 'Walton Ford: Pancha Tantra: Art Edition', published 2007 under ISBN 9783822851937 and ISBN 3822851930.