Dave Channon
Artist Statement
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These paintings are from the Intersections series. In “Emerald Ash Borer”, the creature perches on an ash twig, a common North American tree likely to be exterminated by this half-inch-long cambium-munching insect. Beneath, we see an aerial view of California highways. This perspective draws a comparison between two forces that have spiraled out of control and cause havoc in the environment. American ash trees will likely be replaced in natural forest succession by other more resistant trees. What will succeed our highways after their period of explosive growth is over?
The “Gypsy Moth” caterpillar erupts in plague-like outbreaks every dozen years or so, defoliating entire forests. When an exotic species enters a new territory, it often finds no natural enemies to control its populat
Dave Channon is a multi-media artist who began his career with an apprenticeship to Joseph Cornell when he was 17. He later collaborated with such important artists as Red Grooms, Keith Haring, Phillip Guston, Ralph Fasanella, Peter Max, Andy Warhol, Picasso, Ron English and Robert Indiana.
Channon’s first show was in 1979 at Franklin Furnace, an alternative art space in lower Manhattan. His sculpture has been favorably mentioned in the New York Times (Grace Glueck) the New Yorker, The Village Voice, Art in America, and New York magazine. These reviews were in 1983 for his gigantic “Skull and Crossbones” in The Brooklyn Terminal Show. During the 1990s, Channon focused on video art and had his inventive programs on Manhattan Cable TV, satellite broadcast, included in a Venice Biennale, an