Location Books is pleased to announce its newest publication:  in quiet rooms young girls are writing poetry

In quiet rooms young girls are writing poetry is an artist’s book that reproduces David Rathman's recent war-themed watercolors. The paintings depict tanks, planes, warships and helicopters. As with Rathman's cowboy and car pieces, the imagery is paired with hand-written texts and legends.

Using "language in a paradoxical way to confront the imagery," Rathman avoids a head-on collision with the "heaviness" of his subject. According to the artist, "There's a lot of indirection and evasion going on; to see these aggressive menacing subjects twisting with uncertainty struck me as humorous and--in a sideways, minor way--profound."

Like a series of memento mori greeting cards, Rathman's book is sometimes morose, sometimes playful, with the artist addressing "serious and ordinary issues: death, fracture, joy, compulsion, testosterone and deliverance."    

On the evening of the book release Rathman will also premiere a new film installation that “blends and bends the tank/plane/warship drawings with flickering footage” of the Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston boxing match circa 1964.  

David Rathman received his BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MN). He has exhibited work at Larissa Goldston Gallery (NY), Contemporary Arts Museum (TX), Walker Art Center (MN), Arts Center of St. Petersburg (FL) and Mary Goldman Gallery (CA). His work is featured in fifteen public collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art (NY), J. Paul Getty Museum (CA) and the Art Institute of Chicago (IL). 

“in quiet rooms young girls are writing poetry” by David Rathman

What: Book sale and film premiere at Weinstein Gallery

Where: 908 West 46th Street Minneapolis, Minnesota  55419 

When: Thursday, April 14th, 2011,  6:00pm - 8:30pm

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