“His prints are less happily-ever-after than sweetly open-ended,” is how Asheville Made described Andy Farkas’ narrative folkloric works four years ago. Farkas, based in West Asheville, began the illustrations that would define his style from stories he told to his young daughters, and the imagery is rich with wonder and magic, often featuring soulfully benign wildlife (badgers, foxes, moles, and more) interacting with children, hiking, or just stopping to smell the flowers.
The artist started his career using traditional printmaking methods, but then discovered mokuhanga, a Japanese woodblock printmaking process that utilizes water-based pigments in the transfer process to paper. The fluid style is hypnotically beautiful, and while Farkas’ illustrations really need no explanations, he often inks barely visible poetic phrases onto his works. For example, on one image of an abstracted bear who also, in his rolled-up state, resembles a heart aflame, the inscription reads: “upon realizing it was not to be controlled he simply let it shine.”
“I’m filled with gratitude for Momentum Gallery for helping me to share my work, as well as everyone who comes to see it,” Farkas said in a recent press statement. The artist is sharing a series of new pieces alongside established favorites.
“Seeing so many of my works together is like being reacquainted with old friends,” he notes. “I find that even though the words [on the artworks] are the same each time I reacquaint myself with my own work, [they] tell me an ever-so-slightly-different story.
“As with all my other works, my two newest works, ‘Their shared dream’ and ‘Right now,’ are born both of personal experience and a hope in the world we all share.”
Through Aug. 27. Momentum Gallery, 52 Broadway, Downtown Asheville. momentumgallery.com. 828-505-8550.