Mark Dion Work at the PONCHO Invitational Fine Art Auction

You may not have room in your home for a 60-foot-long living “nurse log” installed in its own greenhouse, but you can still own a work by the noted artist who created it. Mark Dion, visionary for the impressive “Neukom Vivarium” at Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park, has donated an ink-on-paper work to the PONCHO Invitational Fine Art Auction.

Internationally known for his large-scale installations that “re-create the categorization and exhibition practices of museums,” Mark says, “I consider myself a visual artist with a keen interest in the science of life . . . (M)y work tries to investigate what nature means for a particular group of people, in a particular place at a distinct point in history.”

His artwork donated to PONCHO, “The Voyage of the Beagle,” does just that. The silhouetted image of two trees frame the HMS Beagle as it arrives at the Galápagos Islands bearing Charles Darwin and his investigative curiosity. A vine between the trees holds a prominent bird, representing the variations in species soon to be discovered by Darwin, which will ignite his controversial theories on the origin of species. The work captures that moment when human understanding about the natural world radically changed forever.

PONCHO is thrilled to offer Seattle collectors the rare opportunity to own a small-sized work of this internationally famous artist.

PHOTO CAPTION:“The Voyage of the Beagle” by Mark Dion. Ink on paper. 8.5” x 6” 2009 $2,000. Available only at the PONCHO Invitational Fine Art Auction.