A Swarm, A Flock, A Host

Mark Doty

in conversation with

Darren Waterston

An Exhibition of Original Prints

Wednesday May 22, 2013

6:00 p.m.

Margaret Liebman Berger Forum

Room 227 (2^nd Floor)

The New York Public Library

Stephen A. Schwarzman Building

5^thAvenue at 42^ndStreet

New York, NY 10018

917-275-6975

www.nypl.org

(directions)

Room 227 opens to the public at 5:30 p.m.

All events are FREE and subject to last minute change or cancellation.

National Book Award-winning poet Mark Doty and prominent artist Darren Waterston have an in-depth discussion about their stunning new book, A Swarm, a Flock, a Host: A Compendium of Creatures.

Originating in the Middle Ages, bestiaries were illustrated volumes that described various animals—some real, some mystical. The natural history and illustration of each beast was usually accompanied by a moral lesson. In this beautifully illustrated book, acclaimed painter Darren Waterston and distinguished poet Mark Doty come together to breathe new life into the medieval genre. Waterston’s precise and haunting silhouettes depict species from insect to bird to mammal, captured in motion as they hunt their prey, build their nests, or protect their young. Accompanying these illustrations are Doty’s poetic observations on the wonders of the animal world—its panoply of sounds and shapes, its dignity and its cruelty. Lovers of art, animals, and poetry will delight in this elegant volume that captures nature’s exquisite and terrible beauty.

Twelve original prints, created by Darren Waterston for the book, will be on exhibit during the event.

Copies of the book are available for purchase and signing after audience Q&A.

Mark Doty is the author of Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, for which he won the National Book Award in 2008, and Dog Years, a New York Times bestseller. His writings have appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, The Atlantic Monthly, and many other magazines.

Darren Waterston has been exhibiting in the U.S. and abroad since the early 1990s. He received his BFA at the Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA and continued his training in Germany at the Akademie der Kunst, Berlin and the Fachhochschule für Kunst in Münster. Recent exhibition highlights include Forest Eater (2011), which Waterston conceived specifically for The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii; Splendid Grief: The Afterlife of Leland Stanford Jr. (2009), an installation at The Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, California; and The Flowering (The Fourfold Sense) (2007), at the Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon. Waterston's paintings are included in numerous permanent collections including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. He currently lives and works in New York City and is represented by DC Moore Gallery.

Conceived and organized by Arezoo Moseni, and in its fourth year, Art and Literature Series events bring forth pollinations across the literary and visual arts with readings and discussions by acclaimed artists and authors.