Whale Bone Grove - Aaron Horkey

Along with Jeff Wood and Emek, Aaron Horkey was among the first artists whose work I really went gaga over.  A three-year hunt for Horkey's Arcade Fire poster didn't stop me from trying to acquire every other print he did in the meantime, but "Whale Bone Grove" finally brought my foot down hard on the poster junkie brakes.  This was one of those hypnotic pieces that pointed a tractor beam straight at my mind's eye. 

"Whale Bone Grove" has everything that distinguishes Horkey's work--fantastical birds perched on rural thrones, deep, layered detail (captured beautifully by Burlesque Design's printing), Black Osprey--and it was met with shock and awe in the collector community.  But what sets "WBG" apart from any other super dope art print with incredible rendering and amazing detail is the story.  

The rotting half-pipe and leaning silo take me straight back to the Shenandoah Valley, where my friends and I scoured the one Harrisonburg skate shop for the latest gear to distinguish ourselves from the other kids, and where, for a few years, skateboarding, basketball and punk and rap music, for the most part, actually kept me out of trouble.  Those early teen years before high school, sports and girls painted a mask over my existence were a period of innocent awareness--the only time in my life when I remember knowing what was happening out there, but without the cynical sense of irony that rules my generation's disenchanted and disappointed moments.

Unlike "Nesting" and posters for Mogwai, Cable and others, which place Horkey's signature wildlife in a closely focused context of abandoned, rusting machinery and decaying organic detritus, "Whale Bone Grove" pans the focus out and allows the viewer to see more of the picture, and we finally get to see this world in a wider perspective.  These creatures are not merely gathering random objects or nesting instiinctively; they are protecting something precious, and the bright red blood boldly speaks to the strength of their will.

(Horkey's "Detritus" print gives another perspective on all this....)

"Whale Bone Grove" for sale or trade on Expressobeans.com.
"Detritus" for sale or trade on Expressobeans.com.
"Aaron Horkey" on eBay

"Collectors like Aaron Horkey's work for a lot of different reasons: amazingly detailed linework that's perfectly suited for screen printing, great posters for bands that often don't get "great posters," themes that explore the small things in life we often overlook....but I'd suggest that the main reason is the collectibility.  Even with multiple variant editions and relatively easily acquirable main editions, Horkey's work remains highly sought after.

So collectors (mainly flippers) must have been a little disappointed when Horkey's large-scale art prints like "Whale Bone Grove" and "Detritus" didn't climb into the stratosphere, but what happened was what is really the best for the artist: the original price was set at almost exactly the market value of the art, so all that aftermarket profit went straight to the artist.

If I have any sense of what is "good art," though, there will come a day when the smart flippers (see also "collectors") get their long awaited reward.  Like the gift so beautifully evidenced therein, the stories in Aaron Horkey's art are too good to go without growth for too long.

We liked it so much we framed the Japan edition: