Concept:

To fill in striking, somewhat iconic, silhouette figures with extremely small handwritten text that comes to mind as I'm writing. While I have done specific commissions of these in which the figures and the text were chosen by the client, I feel that my own words make for a more personal and obviously subjective experience.

Hopefully this comes off as more objectively interesting to the viewer! The silhouettes are striking and clear, embedded in the white background. The massive rambling of so many words in a small space is an intense experience but the overall feeling is rather gentle. From a distance they appear light grey. Close up, they invite the viewer to read. With so many words packed in, my intention is for them to actually be somewhat difficult and tedious to read. Not because the handwriting is sloppy, which it isn't, but because I'd like the pieces to be read not as a complete story but rather for the viewer to find something new to read at each viewing.

While the words aren't random and do "make sense" if read in a continuous line, reading different parts of the piece at different times makes for a bunch of non-sequeters and keeps the piece interesting, somewhat surreal and fun for a long time!

Dimensions:

11.5" x 15.25" (Sizes May Vary)

Media:

Permanent, waterproof, archival ink on acid free, heavy weight, two-ply, smooth Bristol paper

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

H. C. Andersen & Raven


This Wordbird is a manifestation of my love for crows and Hans Christian Andersen!
The text is from two of his tales, "The Tallow Candle" and "The Ugly Duckling". The "Tallow Candle" is one of his earliest stories, written when he was about 20, and was just recently discovered in 2012!  I found it on a homemade, stapled, 2-page "fanzine" type publication for $1.50 at the H.C. Andersen Museum.
English translation here.  

As I was writing the "Ugly Duckling" portion of this Wordbird,  I stumbled upon this line in the story (somewhere around his shoulder!) "... and the raven who perched on the fence kept squawking 'Ow! Ow!'"  I hadn't seen that before I decided to put a squawking raven in the piece so I thought that was a nice bit of synchronicity!  Thanks H. C. !


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)