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Wondrous Strange and Familiar is the latest series of drawings by Ed Binkley.
Join our preview list for early access to the online catalogue.
Opening reception: Saturday, April 1st, 6 - 9pm. Drinks will be provided by our friends at Jetty Road Brewery and Malocchio.
This exhibition will run from April 2nd - April 23rd and will coincide with Ronit Baranga's Intimacy, Paul Neberra's Backstage Disaster and David Lee Pereira's Liminal Spaces.
This collection is part of a direction Binkley began exploring about three years ago, first with the “Incognito" set, depicting other-than-human creatures who have attempted to blend into our society and ways of life. The tension inherent to all the discomforts and awkwardness caused by finding oneself in unfamiliar settings has always fascinated Binkley. He tries to find in each creature its highly individual way of reacting to such situations, whether it evinces nervousness, bravado, hostility, or resignation, among a host of other possibilities. Binkley always hopes to generate some sort of personal connection between the viewer and his creatures, whether it is empathy, curiosity, apprehension, or even a degree of identity.
Binkley’s technique is fairly straightforward traditional drawing, usually light media—colored pencil and a bit of white charcoal—over a dark, grungy background. Binkley fell in love during college with the Renaissance technique of "heightened" drawing, working both light and dark values into a toned background, and these current drawings are his own take on that 500-year-old tradition. Once he finishes a drawing, he almost always applies spray fixative and a satin varnish. He works under a magnifying glass for final details.
Ed Binkley, based in Madison, Wisconsin, in the United States, earned bachelor of arts and master of fine arts degrees in drawing and printmaking. He has been drawing since he was a small child and professionally for about 30 years, with clients including Lucasfilm Ltd. and ImagineFX. Binkley has won numerous awards over the course of his career, including the First Place Grand Prize and Body of Work Portfolio Award in volume 10 of Infected by Art and the Gold Award and Silver Award in Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. His work has been featured in books and magazines throughout Europe, North America and Asia, and he has served as a judge/juror of art featured in publications and at fantasy art conferences.