An obsession for three years and counting.

Since sophomore year, I have been working on variations of the same image. This is based on a photograph that I took before I moved to New England (what was I thinking?). I won't go into the details about why this image is so important or why I feel compelled to try to answer her over and over and over again. This has been an ongoing interest that I have had. Here are some of the phases that she and I went through.

Six Color Lithograph from Sophomore year. This was the beginning, now a six color litho is child's play. Lately, I've been working on a 15 or so color litho (unrelated). This Print is, say, 16 inches high and 9 wide.

Unfinished pastel painting that I did Junior year for an independent study I had with Tim Harney. Say, 36 x 42 inches.

Monotype on glass from Junior year. 22x 30.

Monotype on zinc, also junior year, same size.

What I am working on now (bad photo), Pastel, approx. 6 x 4 feet. This will be in my thesis show in May.

One of the many, many influences.

You don't understand until you admit that you will never understand. Get it? Then you're hopeless.

GASP!!! Of course!

God Save the Queen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfi--Jt0BOA

I found June Wayne by accident while looking through the gallery catalog at the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico. If you don't know, Tamarind is more or less the resurrection site of American Lithography (Nathan Oliveria was also a teacher there). If you cut and copy the address site, you can watch her lecture "Life and Litho" and she has some sound advice. What I found to be the most amusing was in the first few minutes where she is literally crowned 'The Queen of Lithography'. It's worth watching.

this thing

While Rives BFK paper is excellent for printmaking, it's not very good for drawing, at least not in the way that I can draw, and it is more difficult working with 100% cotton. Stonehenge is better for dry media. The paper was beaten to shit, but it's an interesting still-life and I want to make more like it-with slightly more workable paper. 12x20", charcoal on paper.

stones and prints

About 22X30. First state lithograph. Although it defeats the purpose of a print, I only made this one. It's an homage to Oliveria's Composite Heads series, if you don't know, you better learn.

Fifth (or sixth?) state, mid-drawing of the twins. Litho Stone, the drawing itself is between 18 or 19 inches square.

Stone pre-etch. The print itself will come as soon as I have the paper (a lame and tired excuse).

This was supposed to be glued onto a mask, then I realized that was a really, really stupid idea. Liked the drawing itself though.

a slight glimpse into the insanity

This is an embarrassingly rough sketch of the Madonna and Child as a Geometrically Sound Entity.

It's a visual Manifesto rather than something that is meant to stand alone for it's aesthetic value, although I think it has those qualities too. It's always changing, keeping the main idea but being fine-tuned as time goes on. Here are some basic ideas that my work operates by. Remember, REALLY REALLY BASIC. To get deeper into any personal manifesto would mean that I couldn't use words anymore because there comes a point-I'm not a verbally eloquent person and I get the sinking feeling sometimes that no one understands what I'm trying to say or that I'm speaking a different language entirely.

Here some of it is:

-there are two important, base numbers and they are 3 and 4.

-3 is masculine

-4 is feminine

- diagonal, / and \ are masculine.

- the circle and the square are feminine.

-masculine is dynamic and action

-feminine is complete and whole

- a picture that operates on a ratio divisible by three will become dynamic

-a picture that operates on a ratio divisible by four will be whole.

Of course, none of this is completely black-and-white. This is where the whole idea of 7 comes in but I don't know if it's worth the time and, quite frankly, this may all only be important to me and that's fine.

Enjoy?