William Hayes

The Kind of the Vultures

Hand colored copper plate engraving from “The History of Birds. Plate 117 published in 1776.. “Yellow Created Parrot” Dedicated to Daniele Farsetti, a well known art collector Veni...

A contemporary of David Hockney and Peter Blake, Colin Self is an important British printmaker whose innovative etching techniques and novel use of found materials have defined his diverse oeuvre. Yet unlike most artists associated with Pop Art, Self eschewed glossy, colorful bombast for nuanced drawings in a limited palette. Self's imagery has ranged from the geopolitical -- nuclear bombers, fallout shelters; to American icons -- hot dogs, Coca Cola cans; to the everyday -- intimate scenes of animals and plants, and whimsical figure drawings. This arresting portrait of a raven's body is executed in moody shades of black and grey. A tangle of short, sharp marks swirls against the white background, resembling flying birds. At the top, hand written text reads: "dead bird...