Art and Architecture: A Swarm, a Flock, a Host - Mark Doty, Darren Waterston - An Art and Literature Series Event with an Accompanying Exhibtion

May 22, 2013

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FREE - Berger Forum doors open at 5:30 p.m.

In this event National Book Award-winning poet Mark Doty and prominent artist Darren Waterston have an in-depth discussion about their stunning new book, A Swarm, a Flock, a Host: A Compendium of Creatures. Twelve original prints, created by Waterston for the book, are on exhibit during this event.

 A Compendium of Creatures, 2012. Courtesy of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.Darren Waterston, intaglio print with aquatint. Plate IX from A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures, 2012. Courtesy of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Originating in the Middle Ages, bestiaries were illustrated volumes that described various animals—some real, some mystical. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson. In this beautifully illustrated book, acclaimed painter Darren Waterston and distinguished poet Mark Doty come together to breathe new life into the medieval genre. Waterston’s precise and haunting silhouettes depict species from insect to bird to mammal, captured in motion as they hunt their prey, build their nests, or protect their young. Accompanying these illustrations are Doty’s poetic observations on the wonders of the animal world—its panoply of sounds and shapes, its dignity and its cruelty. Lovers of art, animals, and poetry will delight in this elegant volume that captures nature’s exquisite and terrible beauty.

Copies of the book are available for purchase and signing at the event after the audience Q&A.

Darren Waterston, Bestiary no. 27, 2012, gouache on paper. Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.Darren Waterston, Bestiary no. 27, 2012, gouache on paper. Courtesy of DC Moore Gallery, New York.

Mark Doty is the author of Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, for which he won the National Book Award in 2008, and Dog Years, a New York Times bestseller. His writings have appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, The Atlantic Monthly, and many other magazines.

Darren Waterston has been exhibiting in the U.S. and abroad since the early 1990s. He received his BFA at the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA and continued his training in Germany at the Akademie der Kunst, Berlin and the Fachhochschule für Kunst in Münster. Recent exhibition highlights include Forest Eater (2011), which Waterston conceived specifically for The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii; Splendid Grief: The Afterlife of Leland Stanford Jr. (2009), an installation at The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, California; and The Flowering (The Fourfold Sense) (2007), at the Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon. Waterston's paintings are included in numerous permanent collections including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He currently lives and works in New York City and is represented by DC Moore Gallery.

Darren Waterston, Leo, 2011, oil on wood panel. Courtesy of Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA.Darren Waterston, Leo, 2011, oil on wood panel. Courtesy of Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA.

Conceived and organized by Arezoo Moseni, and in its fourth year, Art and Literature Series events bring forth pollinations across the literary and visual arts with readings and discussions by acclaimed artists, authors and poets.