"Ship of Fools" by John Alexander
John Alexander, Ship of Fools, chine collé polymer gravure, image 20 x 16, paper 30 x 22, edition of 30.
Flatbed Press is proud to present Ship of Fools, an etching by the renowned artist, John Alexander. Ship of Fools is Flatbed’s first annual Flatbed subscription print for the Friends of Flatbed subscribers. Friends of Flatbed (Kollwitz Circle and higher) receive an annual print with their membership. A limited number of prints from the edition are available for purchase without membership.
John created this iconic image of the Ship of Fools as a chine collé polymer gravure in an edition of 30. The masked politicians, corporate men, and pig-faced men in suits, clergy, kings, presidents, monkeys, and other figures spill out of a crowded boat adrift amongst dollar bills and coins. The ship is rudderless, sinking, and without an apparent captain. John has often explored this subject matter and at this juncture of time and for this year, it seems entirely appropriate. Based on Plato’s allegory in his Republic, the Ship of Fools subject matter has been referenced by numerous artists, writers, and musicians throughout history including Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, Katherine Anne Porter, The Doors, and The Grateful Dead. The characters in John’s Ship of Fools are unique to his interpretation of the allegory and some of the same characters can be seen in his recent paintings “Lost Souls” and “The Last Judgement.” The Ship of Fools was printed on hand-made Kitakata paper and chine colléd (collaged) to Arches cover, a heavy French archival paper in an edition of 30. The image on Kitakata measures 20 x 16 and the overall print is 30 x 22 inches.
A critic once described the work of John Alexander as capturing “nature at its grandest and man at his worst.” John Alexander was born in 1945 in Beaumont, Texas, and attended Lamar University. He went on to enter graduate school at Southern Methodist University in Dallas in 1969. Upon completing an MFA in 1970, he moved to Houston, established a studio, and became a member of the art faculty of the University of Houston. In the late 1970s, Alexander left Texas for New York where his art career flourished. The artist currently lives and works in New York, dividing his time between his New York and Amagansett studios.
His work is included in the permanent collections of leading museums including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Dayton Institute in Ohio, the Dallas Museum of Art; The Meadows Museum in Dallas, The McNay Museum in San Antonio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Nevada Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans; the Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, as well as many other distinguished public and private collections worldwide.
For more information on how to become a "Friend of Flatbed" and receive a print from the 2021 subscription publication link here: FRIENDS OF FLATBED.
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