Das Narrenschiff

David Avery

Avery commented on his etching:

Das Narrenschiff was inspired by the renowned painting Ship of Fools by Hieronymus Bosch, who in turn was probably influenced by Sebastian Brandt’s 15th century litany of follies in verse (112 to be exact) titled Das Narrenschiff. The medieval Ship of Fools trope tapped into by Brandt has roots probably originating in an excerpt from Book VI in Plato’s Republic. Modern concerns combined with indiscriminate anachronism take precedence in this work, where the owl representing heresy which presides over the scene has been replaced by the symbol of the Almighty Dollar, and the Twitter logo has insinuated itself in the flag where the Muslim Crescent (more heresy!) once resided. Cherries and a silver cup, which represented lust in the Bosch painting, are falling off the table as the passengers in various states of dress, modern or not, fall deeper into their mobile devices, and further from the consequences of their actions in the actual world. At this point, everyone should be beginning to wonder what that taste is when they bite into their next tuna sandwich.

Das Narrenschiff is a hard ground line etching on copper, realized using traditional methods. A polished copper plate is covered with a thin ground of wax, which is drawn through with an etching needle. When immersed in the etchant (ferric chloride), an indentation is eaten away where the metal has been exposed, creating a line that will hold the ink. Subsequent drawing and immersions will create lines of different values, the darker lines having been etched longer. Each state of the print involved up to 16 separate etches, and this etching took five states to complete.