Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Nicholas Kahn & Richard Selesnick
Hummingbird Augury: Cobalt Blue Pastel Drawing on Handmade Paper w/ Gold Stars

2019

$1,000
£751.23
€866.29
CA$1,387.63
A$1,541.96
CHF 808.01
MX$18,909.43
NOK 10,305.64
SEK 9,695.16
DKK 6,465.61
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

Hummingbird Augury (Circular Cobalt Blue Pastel Drawing of Golden Hummingbird and Stars on Indian Handmade Cotton Paper by Kahn & Selesnick) 11 inch diameter unframed pastel, conte crayon on paper Kahn & Selesnick’s latest project “Madame Lulu’s Book of Fate” continues the adventures of the Truppe Fledermaus, a cabaret troupe of anxious mummers and would-be mystics who catalogue their absurdist attempts to augur a future that seems increasingly in peril due to environmental pressures and global turmoil. In this body of work, the artists also examine the notion of the carnivalesque – traditionally the carnival was a time when the normal order of society was upended and reversed, so that at least for a day the fool might become king, the sinner a priest, men and women might cross dress, and sacred ceremonies and normal mores are burlesqued and spoofed. During such brief times of anarchy, societal pressures were relieved by revealing their somewhat absurd and arbitrary natures. Costumes and masks were traditionally worn so that all people might have the same social status during the duration of the festival. The Truppe ask you to consider: is it the carnival that is upside-down, or perhaps the real world that it purports to burlesque? The artistic duo’s latest extension to the ongoing series re-envisions the Danse Macabre, the Medieval allegory that reminds us no matter one’s station in life, the “Dance of Death” will ultimately unite us all. Four five-foot long panoramic images gracefully unfurl the Truppe’s cast of characters adorned in a variety of dress harkening back to French Revolution era. A parade of fools and dandies tread on thin ice in the company of agile skeletons, a beautiful yet haunting reminder that humans are on a slow march towards a shared fate. In the face of a turbulent political and environmental crisis, the artists make their own appeal to change the future with a series of circular drawings on handmade paper in pastel and conte crayon. "Panogolin Bonaparte" and "Medusa" are among the drawings that illustrate the transformation of humans into animals, a fantasy of mankind’s integration with nature. The drawings in this series are presented as votive offerings to the Gods as a last attempt to bargain for a more hopeful future. About the artists: Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick are a collaborative artist team who work primarily in the fields of photography and installation art, specializing in fictitious histories set in the past or future. Kahn & Selesnick have participated in exhibitions worldwide and have work in over 20 collections, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. In addition, they have published 3 books with Aperture Press,and their latest book 100 Views of the Drowning World was released in 2017 by Candela Books.

More From This Seller

View All
3rd Grade Reader: Figurative Drawing of Feathers and Blue Wave on Antique Paper
Located in Hudson, NY
Figurative chalk drawing of colorful feathers and blue wave on vintage collaged book pages 'The Third Grade Reader- Feathers on Water' by Louise Laplante in 2022 pastel on collaged v...
Category

2010s Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Chalk

Full Circle Day/Night (Gilded Mandala Cyanotype of Gold Flowers on Indigo Blue)
By Julia Whitney Barnes
Located in Hudson, NY
Figurative Still Life painting of blue and gold flowers on an indigo cyanotype and geometric patterned background "Cyanotype Painting (Gold Flor...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

Watercolor, Gouache, Archival Paper

Black Bird Tours Around the World (Chalk Drawing over Collaged Sheet Music)
Located in Hudson, NY
Figurative chalk drawing of grey, black, and teal clouds and birds silhouetted on collaged vintage music pages 'Black Bird Tours Around the World ' by Louise Laplante in 2022 silhouettes made with chalk on vintage collaged music pages 24 x 30 inches unframed, 27.5 x 33.5 inches in natural light wood frame with non-glare plexi Louise Laplante bridges the past and present with mixed media drawings made with figurative charcoal silhouettes juxtaposed on collaged sheets of vintage paper. Finding beauty in forgotten or discarded sheets of ephemera, Laplante uses it as a guide for playful compositions of stenciled birds in mid-flight, drifting feathers, or taxidermized deer heads in rich pastel. A final burst of wistful linework glides over the pastel forms, accentuating her subject’s movement while adding another layer of texture. In this particular work, the artist using a palette of black, grey and shades of blue and teal to compose a balanced graphic of fluffy clouds extending above a single black bird. In certain segments the stenciled images are delicately brushed over with a thin wisp of chalk which adds a delicate textured effect to the drawing. The drawing is framed with a light wood frame and has non-glare plexi glass galzing. About the artist: Interested in blending the old world with the new, mixed media artist Louise Laplante combines her original images with ephemera of the past, enticing a conversation about it’s “relevancy to the present.” Her compositions begin with vintage book pages, personal handwritten letters, sheet music, or instruction from old guides on etiquette or science. While the text itself is weighted with reference to a particular subject, the visual of the typed or handwritten words and printed illustrations establish a unique pattern. These layered backgrounds are superimposed with opaque charcoal drawings that are inspired by the themes read between the lines. Most recently, the artist has opted for larger scale work, combining multiple sheets of vintage paper to expand her unique motifs. Laplante exhibits across the Northeast and has shown with Carrie Haddad for more than ten years. Artist Statement: My work connects the texts, and ideas, in the vintage book, music or correspondence pages, with images those words evoke to comment on how the past still resonates, whether we are aware of it or not. It is informed by my love for old paper, letters, books and images, both as reminders of the past and as bits of pattern, tone, line and shape. The text on them acts as both content and visual device. With each work, I select, arrange and collage these pieces creating both a support and pattern building on it with motifs that are suggested by words on the papers. Although I often start with an agenda I always allow each work to build its own image. Artist Resume: Education MA in Fine Art, State University of New York at Albany, New York BFA, College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, New York Studied, Art Institute of Boston, Boston, Massachusetts Exhibitions 2019 Mediums of Exchange, Lehman College Art Gallery, Lehman College, CUNY, Bronx, New York 2018 Figures We Fancy, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Shelter, A.P.E. Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts Material Flow: Rhythm in Collage and Sculpture, Pratt Gallery, Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont 2017 Abstractions in Black and White, Gallery 175 Pawtucket, Rhode Island Blanche Ames National, Borderlands, North Easton, Massachusetts Five Points Biennial, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, Connecticut A Declaration of Sentiments: Reflections on the Centennial of Women’s Right to Vote in NYS, Athens Cultural Center, Athens, New York 2016 Winter Exhibit, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York 2015 Boston Biennial 4, Atlantic Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts Drawing, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Taking Root: Caniskek and the Meeting of Two Worlds, Athens Cultural Center, Athens, New York North Northeast, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, Vermont NBMMA 45th Exhibition, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut 2014 New Directions ’14, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York Connecticut Women Artists – 85th National, Slater Memorial Museum, Norwich, Connecticut New England Collective V, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, Massachusetts Boston Biennial 3, Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts 2013 Storytellers and Conjurers, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York 2012 Works on Paper, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Drawing, b.j. spoke gallery, Huntington, New York Strange Glue, Thompson Gallery, Weston, Massachusetts Silhouette, A.P.E., Northampton, Massachusetts The Cadence of Familiarity, Krauss Gallery, Providence, Rhode Island 2011 20th Anniversary Exhibition, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Paperworks, Paper City Studios, Holyoke, Massachusetts Small Works, Towne Gallery, Wheelock College, Boston, Massachusetts 2010 Text/Context, McCoy Gallery, Merrimack College, North Andover, Massachusetts A Community of Artists, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, Massachusetts Here and Gone: Presence, Absence, Memory and Time, Amy H. Carberry Fine Art Gallery, Springfield Technical Community College, Springfield, Massachusetts 2009 Dreamscape, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York 2008 Small ’08, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts Interaction: Louise Laplante and Liz Chalfin, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst Massachusetts Artists and Books, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, Massachusetts One Night, Pivot Gallery, Florence, Massachusetts 2007 20 Artists X 2 Feet, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts Biennial 2007, New Hampshire Art Institute, Manchester, New Hampshire Salon, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, Massachusetts 2006 Small: 20 Artists X 2 Feet, Wunderarts Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts Salon, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, Massachusetts 2004 On Paper, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York Encaustics, Carrie Haddad Gallery, Hudson, New York New Acquisitions, University Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 2003 Hart Gallery...
Category

2010s Contemporary Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Chalk

Nocturnal Nature (Painted Still Life Cyanotype of Colorful Flower on Indigo)
By Julia Whitney Barnes
Located in Hudson, NY
Hand-painted cyanotype still life of colorful flowers and plans on indigo background Nocturnal Nature (Leaves, Snowdrops, Hibiscus, Ferns, Pollinators) — painted cyanotype by Julia W...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

India Ink, Watercolor, Gouache, Archival Paper

Untitled (blue and gold): Hand embellished monoprint
By Jenny Nelson
Located in Hudson, NY
8.5 x 7 inches sold with white 8 ply matte board that is 21.5 x 19 inches This little gem is a unique print made by the artist that she then hand embellished with oil paint. This w...
Category

2010s Contemporary Abstract Paintings

Materials

Oil, Archival Paper, Monoprint

Nocturnal Nature: Painted Cyanotype Still Life of Hibiscus and Rose on Indigo
By Julia Whitney Barnes
Located in Hudson, NY
Hand-painted cyanotype still life of pink flowers on indigo with custom frame Nocturnal Nature (Double Hibiscus, Rose) — painted cyanotype by Julia Whitney Barnes 2024 watercolor, go...
Category

2010s Contemporary Still-life Paintings

Materials

India Ink, Watercolor, Gouache, Archival Paper

You May Also Like

Hummingbird in Flight, Colorful Miniaturist Realist Painting on Parchment
By Dina Brodsky
Located in New York, NY
A captivating miniature painting by renowned artist Dina Brodsky, known for her masterful technique in gouache and watercolor. This exquisite work, painted on authentic animal parchm...
Category

2010s Realist Animal Paintings

Materials

Parchment Paper, Watercolor, Gouache

Dina Brodsky, Bluebird, realist animal watercolor on paper, 2019
By Dina Brodsky
Located in New York, NY
Dina Brodsky pairs gouache and watercolor to achieve the luster of her subject's plumage. The rich royal blue reflects in a dreamy glow off the bird's perch. Each carefully defined f...
Category

2010s American Realist Animal Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Watercolor, Gouache

Hummingbird A Miniature Jewel-toned Colorful Realist Bird Painting
By Dina Brodsky
Located in New York, NY
A captivating miniature painting by renowned artist Dina Brodsky, known for her masterful technique in gouache and watercolor. This exquisite work, painted on authentic animal parchm...
Category

2010s Realist Animal Paintings

Materials

Paper, Parchment Paper, Watercolor, Gouache

"Reigning and Roosting" Folk Art inspired linoleum block bird print, deep blue
By Lisa Houck
Located in Wellesley, MA
Lisa Houck is a highly established artist from Boston, recently re-located to Maine, with a very large following devoted to her exceptional paintings, watercolors, mosaics and prints reminiscent of Folk Art, Matisse and Aborigine art. Houck is widely admired and recognized for a gorgeous sense of color and a sensibility both playful and serious that is uniquely her own. This is one of her 3 most recent large format bird prints in various shades of blue and aqua in a series which now consists of a total of 10 related prints. They are outstanding installed individually or as groups. Houck's highly sophisticated and complex sense of pattern and design is delightfully whimsical, as well as extraordinarily compelling for its knowledge of so many artistic forms which the artist is miraculously able to reference and incorporate, while maintaining a style so distinctively recognizable as her own. Lisa Houck "Flittering and Fluttering" 2023 Linoleum Block Print Edition 10 35.25 x 23.25 Inches This print is not framed. Lisa Houck has an outstanding reputation for not only her work as a printmaker but for achievements in painting, watercolor, mosaic and textiles as well. She has executed many large permanent public art commissions for interior and exterior sites in Boston and nationwide including ambitious murals for Dana Farber, The Children's Hospital, Frieda Garcia Park and numerous libraries, playgrounds and other public buildings. Her works have been featured in many museum and gallery exhibitions and are included in a multitude of public and private collections. Artist's Statement: "I work in watercolor, oil on wood, ceramics, mosaics and etching. Each medium allows me to invent new ways to express my view of nature through color and pattern. My artwork has been exhibited widely, and is in numerous public and private collections, including The Boston Athenaeum, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, Fidelity Investments, four libraries in Broward County Florida, Hale and Dorr, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston." LISA HOUCK Education and Professional Affiliations: Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA: M.F.A. 1989. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI: B.F.A. 1975. Boston Printmakers Selected Solo Exhibitions: Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA 2017, 2021 Cambridge Arts Council, Gallery 344, “A Long Walk with No Destination”, Cambridge, MA 2016 Patricia Carega Gallery: “White Line Woodcuts,” Center Sandwich, NH 2014 Rivers School, Weston, MA 2008 Bentley College: “All About the Square,” Waltham, MA 2003. Barton-Ryan Gallery: “Improbable Botanicals and Landscapes,” Boston, MA 2000. Randall Beck Gallery: Boston, MA 1993, 1991. Barbara Singer Fine Art: Cambridge, MA 1991. Coyote Gallery: Cambridge, MA 1989. Tufts University: “MFA Thesis Exhibition,” Cohen Arts Center, Medford, MA 1988. Modestino Gallery: Cambridge, MA 1987, 1986. New England School of Art and Design: Boston, MA 1986. Mott House: “The Comet and Other Phenomena,” Washington, DC 1986. Selected Group Exhibitions: Cove Street Arts, “Menagerie a Trois”, Portland, ME, 2022 Fuller Craft Museum: “Mosaics Today”, Brockton, MA 2022 Turtle Gallery, “Summer Show”, Deer Isle, ME 2022 Gallery Twist, Lexington, MA “impressions” 2019 and 2020 Boston Athenaeum, New England on Paper, Boston, MA 2017 Cotuit Center for the Arts: Marking Time: 70 Years of the Boston Printmakers, Cotuit, MA 2017 Arsenal Center for the Arts, Big Prints, Watertown, MA 2016 FPAC Gallery, Fort Point Channel, “Mosaic Muse”, Boston, MA 2016 Art of Mosaic: Piecing it Together, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA 2013 Highfield Hall, National Mosaic Exhibit on Cape Cod, Falmouth, MA, 2011 Fancy Plants: Bentley University, 2010 Contemporary Mosaics: Attleboro Arts Museum, 2010 Boston Children’s Museum: “I See Trees,” 2009. Somerville Museum: “Art of Mosaic,” 2009. Milton Academy: “Design/Build,” 2009. Danforth Museum: Members Show, 2007 Boston Printmakers: North American Print Biennial, 2005. Peabody Essex Museum: “In Nature’s Company,” Salem, MA 2004. Cambridge Art Association: “Hot Colors,” (Best in Show Award), Cambridge, MA 2002. Tufts University: “Alumni Exhibition,” Aidekman Gallery, Medford, MA 2001. Acacia Gallery: Gloucester, MA 2000. Wiggin Gallery: “Women in Watercolor,” Boston Public Library, Boston, MA 2000. New Art Center: “Lasting Impressions: Looking at the Land,” Newton, MA 1997. Bernard Toale Gallery: “The Pet Show,” Boston, MA 1996. Albers Gallery: Memphis, TN 1994, 1992,1991. Pritam & Eames: East Hampton, NY 1992. Boston Center for the Arts: Boston, MA 1989. DeCordova Museum: “Explorations in Handmade Paper,” Lincoln, MA 1989. Fuller Museum of Art: “RISD Alumni in Boston,” Brockton, MA 1989. lisa houck Selected Collections: The Boston Company The Boston Public Library Brigham and Women’s Hospital Brunnier Museum, Ames, IA Coopers & Lybrand Fidelity Investments Fogg Art Museum Goodwin Procter Harvard Business School Harvard Community Health Plan Grants/Projects: Herman Miller Lahey Clinic Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts Mutual Corporation Montgomery Watson Harza Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Neiman Marcus New England Medical Center State Street Bank and Trust Valley Hospital, NJ Wrapped a Radiology room with art at Boston Children’s Hospital 2019. Project consultant: Betty Bothereau, L’Attirude Gallery Boston “City Square with Reflecting Pool,” 6’ X 6’ mosaic for Iron Street Park in Boston. Located on the corner of A Street and Iron Street in Boston, commissioned for this new park in Boston by a private client in 2014. Children’s Hospital, Waltham, MA: eleven-panel, oil-on-wood painting for the lobby, 2005. Grant from Massachusetts Cultural Council, 2005. For a ceramics program in the public schools, sponsored by the Dedham Cultural Council. John Hancock Financial Services: Frieda Garcia Park. Commission to create two mosaic murals incorporating children’s art from the community, 2004. Murals are 8’ X 10’ and 8’ x 22’. Broward County Cultural Affairs Office/Public Art Department, Florida: Public Art Commission to create paintings and printed materials for four libraries in Broward County, 2003. Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Jimmy Fund Clinic, Boston, MA: eight panel mosaic for the reception area. Architect: Miller, Dyer, Spears, 2003. Massachusetts Port Authority, Logan International Airport, Terminal E, Boston, MA: Six digital reproductions of paintings. Project Coordinator: Urban Arts Institute, 2001. ”The Rare Tropical Cod,” part of the Cavalcade of Cod, a school of 5’5” fiberglass fish sculptures which were displayed throughout the city of Boston in the fall of 2000. Sponsored by Boston’s B2K Committee. Poster and button and display banners for First Night Boston, 1998. Grant from the City of Cambridge to create murals for the Cambridge Senior Center, 1995. Administered by the Cambridge Arts Council. Fellowship in the Visual Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, 1994. Administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts. Grant from Arts on the Line, Cambridge, MA for temporary art in the subway including a 36-foot painting for the Kendall Square subway station, Cambridge, MA 1988. Grant from the Cambridge Arts Council for a mural for the Cambridge River Festival, installed in Inman Square, 1987. Poster for the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, 1987. education and professional affiliations Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA: M.F.A. 1989. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI: B.F.A. 1975. Boston Printmakers New England Mosaic Society Publications: Maine Gallery...
Category

2010s Folk Art Prints and Multiples

Materials

Linocut

'Chittering and Chattering I' Folk inspired blue/white linoleum print of bird
By Lisa Houck
Located in Wellesley, MA
'Chittering and Chattering I' Linoleum Block Print, Edition 10, 11 5/8 x 11 5/8 Inches, is one of a series of 6 related prints in this size in varying shades of blue. Sold indiv...
Category

2010s Contemporary Animal Prints

Materials

Linocut

"Flying and Fishing, " Folk inspired Blue Linoleum Block Print of Bird in Flight
By Lisa Houck
Located in Wellesley, MA
Flying and Fishing, Linoleum Block Print, Edition 10, 35 1/4 x 23 1/4 Inches, is one of a series of 8 large (this size) and 6 small (11 5/8 Inches x 11 5/8 Inches) linoleum block pr...
Category

2010s Contemporary Animal Prints

Materials

Linocut