Thursday, October 16, 2008

Current Studio Investigation





I am currently thinking about the relationships between texture, color, edges, and images. I love the meeting of glossy, shiny photographic images with hand drawn images. I am also interested in deep space that exists in a photograph and what happens when it's butted up against a hand drawn image that sits closer to the surface of the paper. My process is to put intuitive open marks on the page and then add some recognizable forms (drawers for example) that appear to be behind the marks, yet have more of a three-dimensional sensation. The last step is to screw up the visual logic further by taking a man-made image (photograph in a magazine) and framing the drawn image (drawers) making it appear to pop off the page and exist in a strange space somewhere between that of the watercolor/ink that sits on the surface and that of the photograph that creates deep, deep space. The most ironic part is that the drawers are just the white of the page; they are not in front of the magazine image yet appear that way. The photograph also becomes pattern because of the way I manipulate and change its shape. It flips between retaining a sense of depth due to the light, shape, and perspective of the image, and being a flat pattern. Essentially I am enjoying a visual and emotional phenomenon that occurs with the slight, yet precise manipulation and pairing of materials and images. 

I can talk about all of these things formally, but I can't help but read into my obsession with visual trickery, removal of function, and the juxtaposition of disparate images/textures. I've always processed the world through allegory, metaphor, and narrative. It comes from an earnest belief in the poetry of things. I want to make sense of my chaotic relationship to the world. I've found that the greater the gap between an understatement and its true effect, the more moving the experience is for me. It's a little about irony and a little about how a simple gesture, statement, or act can be laden with so much complexity and meaning. I will find and post some of these examples from film and literature. For now, bedtime.