Swan.

New York, JMc & GHB Editions, 2009. 40pp. with 16 color illustrations. 4to. grey cloth with black stamped cover and spine.

$75

Published to accompany an exhibition of the same title, this finely printed volume reproduces a selection of Gustafson’s sensitive pastel works focussing on the motif of swans on a lake. With its stark white plumage this creature is perhaps a natural subject for a minimalist eye like Gustafson’s. Graceful, long-necked birds glide over satin surfaces that retain the color only of reflection. In some pieces the dialogue is merely between darkness and light. But in his use of pastel, as distinct from watercolor, Gustafson has discovered a new softness of edge. His swan subjects have almost roughly described contours in these works, as if the hand that was tracing them were naïve, or uncertain. Or it may be that the softer edge describes more aptly the bird’s condition - partially submerged in another medium. And then again it is the nature of water to catch and reflect that with which it has contact, and this “roughness” of treatment is, more properly, another of the artist’s perceptive refinements. In some instances overlapping figures of birds can be read as merging together against the darker background, again suggesting a porousness of edge. The contrasting monochrome hues of the bird and its surroundings discover a wide range of formal and linear dramas carefully orchestrated and preserved within the signature sense of quiet that attends Gustafson’s best works. There is almost a palpable hush which pervades the pages of this volume.
This sense of silence is echoed in the misty landscapes presented in this work. The artist has almost dissolved form in a series of impressions of land heads reaching down to water. A sense of form through formlessness pervades, almost a quivering between abstraction and figuration, between body and spirit. This step towards the abstract is heightened when we encounter Gustafson’s “water” studies which emerged during this project. Here we are faced with pure, monochrome abstraction, which in point of context we read as representations of water. The mind shows us one thing, the eye another. At once inviting and ominous they represent new portals into perception and the quest for reality, bound or limitless. Beautifully graded impressions depict works as they appear alongside mirror-imaged, lightened “ghost” reflections of both birds and landscapes. Themes of unity and duality, reality and perception in the original works, are subtly enhanced in this exquisitely designed publication.
A limited edition of 50 numbered copies, signed by the artist, are available in a matching cloth covered slipcase, priced at $250. Also, a special deluxe, signed edition of 10, enclosed in a custom made clamshell box, featuring an original swan watercolor study (9 1/2” x 13 1/2”) has been released priced at $5000.