Heuristics, 2023.
gouache, gel pen and marker on black paper.
The following text was presented alongside the work when it was first exhibited in 2023 and represents my feelings at the time:
I feel strongly that my art (of any sort) will always be a reflection of the things that were holding my interest at the time I made it. Inside this series is city planning, worldbuilding, space travel, gardening, curves, light and shadow, geology… but who knows which of these will be fleeting hyperfixations? What I make today may be nothing like what I have made so far or what I will make in the future. I work best when I find this notion exciting rather than terrifying.
Consistent across all my creative practice is a fascination with patterns and rules.
- Pick a song. Don’t have a plan. Begin with a single uninterrupted line in metallic silver gel pen. Loop, overlap, create tangents and beziers, negative space, even frame, locals, collectors, arterials and highways. Follow the music. Stop when it does.
- Look for dimension. Envision a wireframe. Use gouache to fill in the blanks. Boldly define light and shadow. Become more timid. Consider surfaces, textures, craters, plateaus. Push the contrast. Pull it back in. Push it again. Blend, unblend, work, rework, overwork. Get bored. Stop.
- Tell the story. Put figures on your stage. Hide them behind things. Block in machinery with silver and life with gold. Give them form, dimension, action, motives, memories, flaws, eyes. Let them breathe.
Somewhere out there is a person or persons who will pay me for the art that results when my basic needs are met and I can do exactly what I feel like doing every day. One day I may find this person or persons, or they may find me.
This is probably not true and is possibly a damaging line of thinking, but the art I currently make is what happens when I do my best to assume this to be true.
I learned the word ‘heuristic’ this year. It was loosely described to me as ‘doing something to discover the purpose of having done something’. I don’t recommend thinking too hard about it.
These works are made through a heuristic process, and I’ve only discovered that upon finishing the set, because duh. But that’s exactly what the process was – each piece begins as a scribble with absolutely no set design in mind. The overlapping of the lines informs the painted shapes, the painted shapes inform the ‘story worms’, and the finished piece informs the title.
While I am pleased with the results, I’m troubled that I don’t seem to be in control of my ability to produce them. I have a great many projects sitting unfinished and forgotten because my source of motivation ran dry, and I think finding a solution to that is the main reason I’m here. I despise the concept of a muse because I can’t stand the thought of not being in control of my creative output, but I do feel that I’m being drip-fed the mead of Suttungr and I would love to figure out how to break in to the stash.
