Edition Announcement #232 -Mike + Doug Starn

Today's-the-day greetings collectors! I've been giddy like a kid on the night before Christmas all week long in anticipation of releasing today's edition, alleverythingthatisyou sno7.1_003, by Mike + Doug Starn. But first, an important announcement:

Today—Thursday, December 17th—is the very last day to place your order if you want to receive your prints in time for Christmas!

Now back to the Starn Twins and alleverythingthatisyou sno7.1_003. Some notes about the edition:

- We're limiting collectors to two 8"x8" prints each, and only one per collector for prints 16"x16" and larger.
- This edition is not eligible for any discount or promotion.
- We reserve the right to refund purchases if we determine that a single collector has acquired multiple prints or used a discount code.
- The quoted image dimensions include a generous white border which is part of the artwork and not a printing/printer mechanical artifact.
- When framing your print, floating it on museum board with its full dimensions intact is recommended. (No trimming!)

Now on to the part where I gush about the work and the men who created it. We're all so thrilled to have the opportunity to work with them again, and I couldn't think of a better print with which to end our holiday release spree. As always, the planning part was a pleasure. Mike and Doug are just wonderful, and everyone in their studio has been terrific, most especially Gaudéricq Robiliard. (And I'm not just saying that because he's also my friend!)

A bit over a year ago, the brothers Starn picked up and moved their operation to Beacon, NY. This is no small feat, mind you—their studio is quite a production! But it was for good reason, as they had an incredibly ambitious and outsized project in mind: Big Bambú. Jonathan, Sara and I spent a magical morning up there in mid-October, which is when we first started a conversation about collaborating again.*

When I say magical, it's not hyperbole. Big Bambú is epic and moving and completely disarming. Built of bamboo and constantly evolving, it has expanded to entirely fill the triple-height football-field-sized former factory that's now their studio. I've never seen or experienced anything like it. A feat of engineering bound up in climbing rope, it marries the organic with the man-made, resulting in a seemingly chaotic structure that's incredibly stable. It was hard to put complete faith in its stability, and yet there we stood, 40 feet off the ground with only a mesh of slender bamboo stalks between us and the hard concrete. Terrifying! Exhilarating! And so totally Starns.

Big Bambú is a stunning example of what a thing—a humble yet sturdy, clattering stalk of bamboo—can become when intertwined with other things like it. The alleverythingthatisyou series that today's edition is from illustrates the fragility and transience of a thing—a miraculous, beautiful snowflake—on its own. For mere mortals, it's impossible to contemplate the microscopic snowflake without thinking of how countless millions of them come together to form snow. Likewise, the constantly-evolving sculpture that sits in a warehouse 100 miles to the north of me is something that most of us could not conceive of, much less create.

That artists pursue grand ideas which sometimes might seem to defy logic is something I am deeply grateful for, and I fervently believe that supporting them in their pursuits is vital to human culture. 20x200 is about the idea that many instances of small support can come together to form a grand thing of its own: one that's comprised of millions of unique individuals, finding its stability in its variability.

A small thing on its own—what a million small things might become when united: the constant contemplation of these things is something I have in common with the Starns, and I think it's why they've always felt like such kindred spirits.

*I'm delighted to say that it looks like our collaboration will be ongoing! Yes, that is a hint.

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