Print Suite | Bird In Cage by Tal R at Rene Schmitt
Bird In Cage (2021) Suite by Tal R at René Schmitt Druckgraphik
“In Tal R’s collection of eight works entitled Bird in Cage, various stylized representations of birds—perhaps household, perhaps wild—appear within cylindrical enclosures of containment. Closely cropped against nondescript yet domestic backdrops, at times the birds’ wings extend past the bars of the structure, arms reaching out beyond the enclosure. At others they acquiesce. A diverse range beaks, eyes, claws, and feathers elicit different emotional states of containment. Some birds appear content, others exuberant, and others yet disillusioned or longing for escape.
The bird cage, whose earliest use dates to ancient Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, and China, among other cultures, was popularized in the Victorian era as a symbol for displaying wealth within the home. For the artist, the bird and the cage become one formal object—the captor and hostage are collapsed into a single plane of drawing. No single line within the drawing of Tal R’s compositions has power to dominate over the other—rather, they correspond as one and the same.
During the Occupation of Paris, Cartier exhibited birds in golden cages in their windows at the Cartier House in Paris. The now legendary brooch “Bird Trapped In A Cage” was exhibited and after freeing Paris, Cartier exhibited the same birds but this time outside the cages.”
René Schmitt Druckgraphik
Details
Bird in Cage (2021)
Linocut over acrylic painting on 300-gram rag paper.
Sheet sizes: 140 x 96 cm .
Edition: 8 unique works (due to the work process of over-painting all works are kind of unique).
Each hand signed and numbered.