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One artist who is of great inspiration for me is M.C.
Escher. He is the first artist that I actually researched and attempted
to learn about. For a long time I have admired his work and have always
wanted to imitate the way he manipulates the viewer. In his more complicated
art he includes elements that at first glance seem to make sense, but
when they are observed more closely there are aspects that are impossible
to work out in a logical way. This puzzle-like quality of deceiving
the viewer is something that I find incredibly fascinating. It can be
frustrating for the viewer when a space is unworkable, but at the same
time is causes the viewer to become very involved in the work. I would
like for viewers to become involved in a similar manner with my work.
In many of my drawings I take a similar approach to creating this kind
of confusing situation for the viewer. In all of my drawings I use architecture
which a very structured environment. Walls, floors, ceilings, doors,
windows, stairs, and columns are all structures that a viewer can understand
and easily identify. In many of my drawings I depict spaces including
some of these elements. I will either draw them from a perspective that
makes them harder to figure out exactly what they are or I will abstract
the space subtly to make the space unworkable. Escher will often have
one or two elements that do not make sense in an otherwise relatively
accurately rendered space. In a few of my drawings from this final semester
of my St. Mary’s Project I have done some self portraits from
either photography or observation and in them I have added aspects that
do not make sense. There will be a shadow that is drawn across planes
on different levels of depth kept consistent or a structure receding
into a space while overlapping something spatially closer in the composition.
Elements of confusion such as these are not instantly noticeable when
first viewing the drawings, but when studied closer the viewer becomes
aware of them and is given the opportunity to try and figure out these
impossible spatial dilemmas. In some cases where there are more and
more of these invented illogical elements it is possible for the viewer
to become lost in the space and be disoriented. In my work, space plays a vital role. I attempt to
create spaces believable enough to the viewer to evoke some sensation.
By creating interior architectural spaces, I intend to at least have
a feeling of an actual architectural space. Many of my drawings are
abstracted, so I do not necessarily want the spaces to seem incredibly
real or life-like, but if the space can be read as truth, then that
complicates the situation for the viewer even more. If aspects of the
drawings read as actual depth then the viewer will invest some belief
in the space. Then when other aspects of the drawings reference a similar
sense of depth, but do not make logical sense the viewer will be confused.
Drawing the viewer in with recognizable imagery and then having elements
of an unworkable nature is a technique I use in my drawings to create
a disorienting situation for the viewer. In all of my work, I always pay specific attention
to the viewer and their relationship to the spaces I create. By using
odd perspectives of complex interior spaces, I put the viewer in places
in which they are uncertain of where they are supposed to fit in the
spaces depicted. Having the spaces presented from uncommon points of
view helps in confusing the viewer. Sometimes finding these perspectives
that create such complex compositions is easy; just looking up or down
at something from an extremely close angle or positioning yourself lower
or higher than what you are looking at. One artist who takes advantage
of perspective in his paintings is Giorgio de Chirico. As I have done
in many works of mine, he will use odd perspectives to show the viewer
what he wants them to see. He will turn up the surface of a table to
reveal everything on the table when in real life that could not be possible
from the vantage point he gives you in the composition. Although many
of his paintings use these odd perspectives, the space is still believable
and is understood as space. I use interpretation and invention when
drawing these spaces, especially in the more abstract drawings I have
made. I will connect or overlap planes of walls and other architectural
structures in a way that is not feasible in reality. Before I used abstraction
as a means to creating complication I used the placement of the figure
in an observed complex architectural space. This interest of unique perspective drawing began well
before I began doing my St. Mary’s Project. For the final project
of a drawing studio class I took in the fall of 2003 I made a series
of works that dealt with the idea of observing from an uncommon point
of view. I found that by placing the vantage of the viewer in extreme
positions in relation to the depicted space the viewer can really have
a sensation of being in that position. I did drawings that would have
an element be very close to the foreground pushing out towards the picture
plane, then creating a sense of depth by having elements get smaller
towards the back of the space. In this series I was already dealing
with some architectural spaces and structures that are similar to architecture.
This series started by my desire to create better compositions in my
work. After making drawings like this for awhile I have found that my
compositions have continuously improved. When depicting more extreme
perspectives with objects very close to the picture plane and then receding
in space there is almost always the accompanying diagonal line or lines
that draws the viewer back into the space. Studying other artists who
I believe create successful compositions I have found that the diagonal
line is used quite often. Not only are diagonal lines used in images
with more unique or extreme vantage points, but even in images with
virtually no background at all contain diagonals throughout to aid in
moving the viewer through the composition. My St. Mary’s Project
is basically a continuation of this series with a more focused theme
of architectural interior space. It has evolved to ends that I could
never have imagined, but there has always been that consistency of dealing
with perspective and having an awareness of the viewer in relation to
the space. In the fall semester for my St. Mary’s Project
I did a series of self portraits dealing with concepts of perspective
in complex architectural interior space. At this point in my work I
was working mostly from observation and had not yet begun to do much
inventing or any kind of abstraction. The work involved the elements
of uncommon perspectives and some type of architectural form. By including
the figure I give the viewer something to relate to in an otherwise
complex architectural interior space. The drawn version of me acts as
an anchor for the viewer. When people look at any image, not only in
art, they are drawn to the figure because it is something that they
automatically have some kind of relationship with because viewers are
figures as well. Also by including myself in these drawings it adds
another level of complexity. When someone looks at my drawings they
are also looking at documentation of the act of the creation of the
drawing. One sees me in the composition and has to figure out where
I was when drawing what I am looking at. In doing so they are realizing
where they are in this space and this can be confusing because realistically
they are where I am in the reflected image. Because when I drew it I
was drawing from my point of view; my vantage becomes the predetermined
point of view for the viewer. By putting the viewer in my place I am
also placing the viewer within this complicated space. I came to a point
where I realized I was mostly interested in the complexity of the architectural
space and decided that to make spaces that were complicated to the level
I desired I had to do some more invention on my part and try abstracting
space. In this final semester of my St. Mary’s Project
I decided to do some drawings that took the figure entirely out and
deal only with abstracted architectural interior spaces, as well as
some drawings that kept the figure while abstracting the space all around
it. When I am creating spaces that are more abstracted and distorted
I still want the viewer to feel like they are looking at a space with
depth and structure. Even though the images do not always look and feel
like actual inhabitable spaces, I want the architectural references
to feel like they are creating space. I have not done very much abstract
art in the past so basing these drawings off of observation and abstracting
from there is a resolved way for me to create them. I think abstraction
could is a good solution for creating the most complicated space possible.
If I am not drawing directly from life I can make the space much more
complicated. However, the works that are drawn from observation initially
and then combine with abstraction are the drawings that are the most
complex. The major influence for the kind of abstraction that
I have taken on in my work is Charles Sheeler. His work is often of
architectural spaces that are highly fragmented and complex. The fragmented
space creates a strong sense of movement in his work, which is an element
that I am concerned with in my own work. Just as I have done in a number
of my drawings, Sheeler will play with light and draw shadows across
a composition in an unrealistic way. Some of his works are made up of
entirely geometric shapes with nothing accurately rendered as being
from life, but they are still easily read as space and as architectural
forms. He references shapes that are associated with architecture as
I do in some of my works. As well he has works that are highly abstracted
in a similar fragmented way, but then with include some architectural
structures that are rendered very accurately to life. He creates confusion
in the same manner that I do by having recognizable elements like a
brick wall with accurately depicted light reflection and texture, but
then include surrounding fragmented and abstracted elements throughout
the composition. Some of the drawings that I have done in the final
semester for my St. Mary’s Project are more simplified abstraction.
They are basically planes of space that subtly reference architectural
space. They are less complex, but at the same time they are confusing
and unusual spaces. They have little detail and from farther away do
not always seem as though they are a space at all; they look like a
grouping of shapes rather than a space in some instances. When viewed
closely they can be read as space, but they can also be seen as simplified
geometric shapes. This is a way of confusing the viewer differently
than with the more crowded spaces where my figure is surrounded by impossible
to decipher architectural structures. The simplicity is what is intriguing.
They are just barely spaces at all. They are interesting because of
their ability to be read as space and as simplified geometric shapes
placed in a composition. For some of these more simply abstracted drawings
I used compositions of Edward Hopper as inspiration. Edward Hopper often painted images of interior spaces
and his work is inspirational for me because of the way he moves the
gaze of the viewer through a composition so fluidly. He creates a believable
sense of space, but the way in which he orchestrates open doorways and
windows in a composition is very inviting for the viewer to imagine
themselves moving through the space. Making a composition that keeps
the eyes of the viewer moving around the piece is very important to
me. I am trying to create works that are complicating architectural
spaces and to keep the viewer moving around over and over again is complicating
in itself. By repeating shapes, lines, and forms throughout the composition
I can create a strong sense of movement. Before I started my self-portrait series in the fall
semester of my St. Mary’s Project I was going to have the focus
be primarily on movement. Just as interior architectural space and complicated
spaces are very intriguing to me, in a related way movement is intriguing
to me as well. All of these elements are closely related. Exceedingly
complicated spaces often have a lot of movement and the architectural
spaces that I find interesting and choose to draw also have a lot of
movement. It is not that unusual that I started with the idea of doing
my St. Mary’s Project on objects in motion and ended up where
I am now. Motion is still part of what I am trying to do. Not exactly
objects in motion, but the concept of moving through a composition.
After seeing Charles Sheeler’s movement creating abstract architectural
spaces, I realized that the subject matter I have chosen is connected
with movement more than I had originally thought. When I started creating
images using this subject matter of interior space I was unaware it
would be tied to the concept of motion. Everyone sees interior spaces all the time and can relate to the images of multiple planes of walls, floors, and ceilings converging and crossing over one another. I take this concept of interior space and draw it in a way that makes the viewer relate to the space because of the recognizable qualities of it, but also provides the opportunity to become lost in it when it is portrayed in an unworkable manner.
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