Title: Under the Influence
Dates: March 4-24, 2017
Installation Array
Smith Warehouse
Bill Fick is a printmaker who lives in Durham, North Carolina. He is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke University, where he teaches drawing, comics, and zines. He is also the co-director of Supergraphic, a printmaking studio dedicated to the creation and promotion of printed matter.
His work has been exhibited from New York to Seoul, South Korea and can be found in the collections of the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts; The New York Public Library, New York, New York; and the Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University.
In 1993 Fick was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship and in 1995 a North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship. Fick is also co-author with Beth Grabowski of Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials and Processes, published by Laurence King Publishing, London.
Artist Statement:
For the past twenty-five years Fick has been making super-graphic narrative prints that deal with a variety of satirical, sociopolitical, and scary themes. He is especially interested in making work that bridges the gap between fine art and lowbrow art.
His current work focuses on frightening monster images that reflect society’s ever-growing fear and anxiety of all things different and unfamiliar. These images are presented in a variety of forms including prints, t-shirts, and posters.
The work in this show has been influenced and shaped by Fick's interest in comics, cartoons, folk masks, German Expressionism, and artists like José Guadalupe Posada, Philip Guston, and Kara Walker.
