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Artists’ statement:
This exhibition is based on an idea found in “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare and secondarily the film by Peter Greenaway “Prospero’s Books.” Magician Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, and his daughter, Miranda, have been stranded for twelve years on an island after Prospero's jealous brother Antonio (aided by Alonso, the King of Naples) deposed him and set him adrift with the then- 3-year- old Miranda. Gonzal, the King's counselor, had secretly supplied their boat with plenty of food, water, clothes and the most-prized books from Prospero's library. These books enabled Prospero to find his way across oceans, to combat malignant spirits, to colonize an island, to educate and entertain Miranda and to summon Tempests. “Knowing I loved my Books, he furnished me from mine own Library with volumes that I prized above my Dukedom.”
The artists, husband and wife Dennis Evans and Nancy Mee, have collaborated on this exhibition, and for the first time have actually collaborated on individual pieces. They have created in their own styles and personal vernacular, speculations of what “Prospero’s Library” might have looked like.
And so in Prospero’s/Shakespeare’s voice,
“Now I want Spirits to enforce, and Art to enchant…”
“No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness. If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.”
-Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
…But…to sing, to dream, to smile, to walk, to be alone, be free,
with a voice that stirs and an eye that still can see! To cock your hat to one side, when you please at a yes, a no, to fight, or- make poetry! To work without a thought of fame or fortune, on that journey, that you dream of, to the moon! Never to write a line that’s not your own… -Edmond Rostand
Information is not knowledge. -Albert Einstein
Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.
The true alchemists do not change lead into gold;
They change the world into words.
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the
mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.
He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no
longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is
as good as dead —his eyes are closed. -Albert Einstein
What were the condition like at the time of the Big Bang.
What happened before that ?
Was there a tiny universe,
devoid of all matter,
and then the matter
suddenly created from nothing?
How does that happen?
“We inhabit a universe where atoms are
made in the centers of stars; where each
second a thousand suns are born; where
life is sparked by sunlight and lightning
in the airs and waters of youthful planets;
where the raw material for biological
evolution is sometimes made by the
explosion of a star halfway across the
Milky Way; where a thing as beautiful
as a galaxy is formed a hundred billion
times — a Cosmos of quasars and quarks,
snowflakes and fireflies, where there may
be black holes and other universe and
extraterrestrial civilizations.”
Carl Sagan
O’ sunlight, the most
precious gold to be found
on earth
-Roman Payne
All saints revile her, and all sober men
Ruled by the God Apollo’s golden mean -
In scorn of which we sailed to find her
In distant regions likeliest to hold her
Whom we desired above all things to know,
Sister of the mirage and echo.
-Robert Graves
By providence divine.
Some food we had and some
fresh water that
A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo,
Out of his charity, who being
then appointed
Master of this design, did give
us, with
Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and
necessaries,
Which since have steaded much.
So, of his gentleness,
Knowing I loved my books, he
furnished me
From mine own library with
volumes that
I prize above my dukedom.
-Wm Shakespeare, The Tempest
In the beginning there was
only Chaos. Then out of the
void appeared Erebus, the
unknowable place where death
dwells, and Night. All else was
empty, silent, endless, dark.
Then, Love was born bringing
along the beginning of order.
From Love emerged Light,
followed by Gaea, the earth.
The world is full of magic things, patiently
waiting for our senses to grow sharper”
-W.B. Yeats
There are Four Winds (Boreas, Eurus, Notus, Zephyrus),
Four Seasons (Winter, Spring, Autumn, Winter)
Four Directions (North, East, South, West)
Four Evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
Four Ancient Ages (Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron)
Four Humours (Sanguine, Choleric, Phlegmatic, Melancholic)
“I will soothe you and heal you,
I will bring you roses.
I too have been covered with thorns.”
-Rumi
Yesterday is but todays memory
And tomorrow is todays dream.
“My soul is a hidden orchestra;
I know not what instruments,
what fiddlestrings and harps,
drums and tamboura
I sound and clash inside myself.
All I hear is the symphony.”
-Fernando Pessoa
“Let there be no scales
to weigh your un-known
treasure;
And seek not the depths
of your knowledge with
staff or sounding line.
For self is a sea boundless
and measureless.”
-Kahlil Gibran,
The Prophet
There’s a sea.
But what sea?
It’s always overflowing.
Says yes,
Then no,
Then no again,
And no, Says yes
In blue.
In sea spray
Raging, Says no
And no again.
It can’t be still.
My name is sea.
-Pablo Neruda
Solitude gives birth to the original in us,
To beauty unfamiliar and perilous-
To poetry.
-Thomas Mann, Death in Venice
“Into this wild Abyss/ The womb of Nature, and perhaps
her grave--/ Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,/ But
all these in their pregnant causes mixed/ Confusedly, and
which thus must ever fight,/ Unless the Almighty Maker
them ordain/ His dark materials to create more worlds,--/
Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend/ Stood on the brink of
Hell and looked a while,/ Pondering his voyage;
-John Milton, Paradise Lost
The ancients envisioned their world in two halves—
masculine and feminine.
Their gods and goddesses worked to keep a balance of power.
Yin and Yang.
When male and female were balanced,
there was harmony in the world.
When they were unbalanced there was chaos.
“The master sees beyond what is obvious. He sees the
unseen, feels the unfelt, and hears the unheard. He looks
below the surface for what is hidden and so finds the
great heartbeat of the Universe. He smiles, knowing it is
his heartbeat, your heartbeat, our heartbeat.”
-Wu Wei, I Ching Wisdom: More Guidance from the Book
of Answers, Volume Two
Seven contains the number three of the heavens
and soul with the number four of the earth and body.
The Pythagoreans called the number 7 “the Septad”.
The seven colors of the rainbow..
There are seven days in a week.
There are seven notes to the diatonic scale.
Seven circles form the symbol called “The Seed of Life”.
The Seed of Life symbolizes the six days of creation.
The central circle symbolizes the day of rest.
True beauty lies not upon gilded
veneers,but found in the soul within.
-E.A. Bucchianeri
Belief is the Wound that
knowledge heals
-Ursula K Le Guin
Prospero’s Books reveals an exceptional blend of the talents of Nancy Mee and Dennis Evans, and is based on an idea in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” as well as Peter Greenaway’s film “Prospero’s Books.”
Mee and Evans, husband and wife, have married their unique vernaculars in speculating what books Prospero might have had with him during his exile.
This important exhibition showcases a compelling collection of Evans’ ethereal encaustic and mixed media works and Mee’s elegant etched and slumped glass sculptures. Evans and Mee have long developed their own personal styles and have established themselves in their respective mediums; this exhibition marks the first collaboration of their lengthy and impressive careers.
Magician Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, has been stranded for twelve years on an island after Prospero’s jealous brother Antonio deposed him and set him adrift with his then-3-year-old daughter Miranda. Gonzalo, the King’s counsellor, had secretly supplied their boat with plenty of food, water, clothes and the most-prized books from Prospero’s library.
These books enabled Prospero to find his way across oceans, to combat malignant spirits, to colonize an island, to educate and entertain Miranda and to summon Tempests.
“Knowing I loved my Books, he furnished me From mine own Library with volumes that I prized above my Dukedom.”
And so, in Prospero’s/Shakespeare’s voice:
“Now I want Spirits to enforce, and Art to enchant.”
Nancy Mee
Fused, slumped, water-jet cut and sand blasted glass, mild steel
20 x 29 x 8 inches
2015
Dennis Evans
Encaustic and mixed media on canvas
52 x 37 x 7 inches
2015
Dennis Evans with Nancy Mee
Encaustic and mixed media on canvas
28 x 28 x 7 inches
2015
Dennis Evans with Nancy Mee
Encaustic and mixed media on canvas with slumped glass books
51 x 51 x 8 inches
2015
Dennis Evans with Nancy Mee
Encaustic and mixed media with slumped glass and books
52 x 39 x 7 inches
2015
Dennis Evans
Encaustic and mixed media on canvas
73 x 28 x 12 inches
2015
Dennis Evans with Nancy Mee
Encaustic and mixed media on canvas
73 x 25 x 12 inches
2015
Fused, slumped and sand blasted glass, mild steel
53 x 17 x 13 inches
2015
Dennis Evans
Encaustic and mixed media on canvas
35 x 39 x 5 inches
2015
Nancy Mee
Fused, slumped and sand blasted glass, mild steel
58 x 16 x 12 inches
2015
Dennis Evans
Encaustic and mixed media on canvas,
60 x 45 x 7 inches
2015
Dennis Evans and Nancy Mee Prospero’s Boat 2015
Fused, slumped and sandblasted glass, bronze, Paduk, mild steel
11” x 48” x 15” (boat)
47” x 48” x 20”(boat with mild steel stand and base)
Nancy Mee
Slumped and sand blasted glass, mild steel, wood
50 x 42 x 13
2015
Nancy Mee
Slumped and sand blasted glass, mild steel
45 x 24 x 15 inches
2015
Dennis Evans with Nancy Mee
Encaustic and mixed media on canvas with slumped, glass books
55 x 39 x 8 inches
2015
Nancy Mee with Dennis Evans
Fused, slumped, water-jet cut and sand blasted glass, mild steel
32 x 20 x 10 inches
2015
Nancy Mee
Fused, slumped and sand blasted glass, photo sandblasted glass, mild steel
59 x 25 x 11
2015
Nancy Mee
Fused, slumped and sand blasted glass, mild steel
44 x 32 x 8 inches
2015
Dennis Evans w Nancy Mee
Lead and mixed media with slumped glass books
26 x 26 x 5 inches
2015
Nancy Mee
Slumped and sand blasted glass, mild steel
9 x 13 x 9 inches
2015
The Neo Vatikan Press announced the publication date of its latest Artists Book, Dark Matter. 2015 marks the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Press, founded in 1990 by artist Dennis Evans and writer Carmine "Chick" Chickadel to create unique and collectable collaborative work in limited numbers using letterpress and hand made bindings. Their sixth book, Dark Matter released on November 20, 2015 in a limited edition of 50 books numbered and signed by Dennis and Chick.
Dark Matter for the physicist/cosmologist is the substance of the wide-open spaces of the universe. Simply, it is one of the great mysteries of our time. Dennis and Chick broaden the concept to include not only the science but also its convergence with the complexity of humanity. Whether it was a Big Bang, Omphalos, Olympian Womb or Cosmic Egg we sense the invisible energies of the universe that bind us to it in a imperfect harmony. The images, poems and fundamental words placed on the page develop layers that make meaning. All matter dark or visible entices us to question what matters.
