cry mustardville

"Came a storm to Mustardville. No mechanical device perceived it; no camera, no radar apparatus, demonstrated the presence of, say, the tornadoes which are a periodic feature of life in that district…The masons piling bricks at New St. Ellen’s will swear that a group of gentle-seeming clouds cam and hovered there throughout the season, dropping foulness down upon the citizenry. References to these clouds appear in extant correspondence, but as for the supposed discharge, it cannot be verified. Certainly no one disputes that spasms of loathing and wretchedness followed. But connection may be made between persons and clouds, or deeds and alleged mists? Recall that neither wind nor rainfall murdered Caesar; be reminded that Brutus did."

So begins DB Dowd’s Cry Mustardville, published in 1995. The unbound book is in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, The Walker Art Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the New York Public Library’s print collection, among others. Consists of 20 two color reduction linoleum cuts and accompanying text. Graphic design by Don Overmyer, printed by Betsy Ruppa.  

 

book cover / text pages

 

prints