Sunday, August 10, 2008

The Need to Outline

Making a continuous line around a shape in my work is my way of fixating on that shape while at the same time giving it an energy that radiates from it. 
With this drawing here, I remind myself of those times as a kid when I would throw something in the water and watch the circles grow. By throwing more than one thing at a time, I thought I could control the way that the circles grew. 
While I may have disrupted the waves, they always seemed to continue moving away from the original source. Nothing I would do could change that. 
In the same way my drawings take on a force of their own independent of their maker.  Once released there is little I can do to change the course they will take. 

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Artist Trading Cards

While making my drawings, I have been thinking about how the the combination of the different materials I am using work work together for a common goal, a finished drawing, and these drawings then become an entity in themselves.  In my studio are placed as many drawings on the wall as will fit. Upon looking at and contemplating the works together I began to think of the accumulation of the drawings as another piece in and of itself, made up of numerous 'players' or a result of a 'team' of drawings. Each piece being able to stand alone while at the same time contributing to something larger. 
As a sportscard collector I decided to take the idea of a 'team of drawings' to the realm of actual trading cards. I found a company that made baseball cards and decided to have a couple of my drawing made in to cards. They are the same size as baseball cards and even have the glossy finish. 
Since making these cards I have found out that there are events where artists show and trade ATC's (art trading cards) but these are usually  just little artworks that are on the 3.5x2.5 in format. Mine are different in that I have the photos of my artwork printed directly onto a baseball card. 

Skulls, my connection with David Dunlap

The use of skulls has been a recent addition to my work, but is not new to my interests. As a young boy, I was fascinated by the components that living creatures are made of. I loved looking at diagrams of muscle structure, veins and arteries, and of course the skeletal system. The skull in particular was striking in that it is made up of many different bones, but unlike the rest of the skeleton, the bones of the skull combine to form one unit that rely on each other and remain fused together even after all other parts have turned to dust.  

In my teenage years the skull acted as a way to bring out a rebellious side in me and tell authoritative  figures in my life to "stick it". Skulls were scary they belonged to the dead or those soon to be. They represented pirates, criminals and the lawless. Seeing someone with a tattoo of a skull instantly told be that they were a dangerous person. 

It was not until I saw an image of David Dunlap including pirate flags into his art that I started using skulls in my own work. It was a way for me to communicate with the man in a strictly visual way. I started sending images I made of skulls and he in turn would send me new images. It is a fun way to communicate with a limited verbal interaction. 

Instead of trying to verbally interpret what the other person is saying with their imagery, it is done using only visual cues. This has been an interesting form of communication that I hope will continue.