One can present a point of view. There is as well a point of departure –a point of departure for a line, which is also the departure of a surface, for a volume, and ultimately for time. The point of departure for my work becomes significantly more important than a point of view.
I categorize my work between distinctions in technique and concepts of the “sign”. The subject or sign are arranged within four series: ‘On Hard Ground’, ‘On Form and Linearity’, ‘On Mordants and Design’, and ‘The Aged and Unknown’. The distinction between drawing and etching is characterized in formal differences and artistic intentions. To draw is to learn…to create an etching is to consider its whole. The first requires courage, the other an act of faith. The process of drawing reveals truths, in the subject and in one’s self. With my etchings, I am attached to the process yet fundamentally detached from the product. It becomes its own. It is this distinction that defines the excess and defect of my image.
“On Hard Ground” reveals the tentative nature between “man” and the environment. The impact “man” has on the environment and the defining influence “she” has over “man”. I focus these line etchings on the subtleties inherent in this disharmony in balance.
The series “On Form and Linearity” represents my lifelong interest in shells and the practice of line making in drawing. The economy of line and the subsequent emergence of form compliment the simplistic, yet highly ordered structure of the shell.
The process that puts mordant acids to copperplate and eventually becomes inked to produce a printed image emphasizes the fall to ruin of the skulls. The bite of the plate. The “bite” of the plate becomes the “sign”. The bite of the plate =social “bite. The “bite”, the bite of the acid on the copperplate, the number of baths. Multiple bites, false bites, and stopouts are all used to create the textural effects and desired tone of the image. “On Mordants and Design” as a series, deals with skulls, their many constituent bones, and vacuities of these corrosive techniques.
“The Aged and Unknown” is the latest series, which brings the true character and condition of these creatures to the front. The “ugliness” of many of the animals has often been personified and/or reduced to a sign, myth or metaphor. I like dealing in the beautiful “ugliness” of these aged and unknown creatures.
In this brief account of the excess and defect of my subjects, I have structured the following collection of etchings. And while I have sought to reveal the order of nature, I am not a “naturalist”. My primary goal is to create a quality etching and establish a point of departure.