"Moving Blues" Gallery Piece Process
(migrated from Patreon and modified for this blog)
In August I was invited to attend/participate in a small art gallery. I was stuck on ideas, but decided to do one based on this comic I drew.
As you well know, I had a very transient childhood, and aspects of that have leaked into my adulthood. The conflict of wanting to establish roots in one place yet fearing that location permanence has given me much anxiety, and I've done a lot of introspection not only on how moving has shaped me, but how I may have used moving as a coping mechanism in my adult life. This year in particular, I have spent a long time reflecting on my move to New York from California, as well as the relation between mental health and moving, specifically with regards to depression and isolation. In terms of technique, I had been wanting to play around with papercraft for a while, and I thought this gallery piece would be the perfect opportunity to experiment.
I started by drawing the assets out with ink brush or sharpie and cut them out with an x-acto knife. Afterwards, the tricky part was assembling and composition. Below are a few ideas I explored:
I decided to go with the last idea, but in landscape. I cropped the canvas and decided to go beyond the canvas as well, with the box edges interacting with the environment as well. I added some text directly on the canvas with a permanent marker (nerve wracking!) So below is the final product!
The cardboard isn't part of the piece, but shows how the boxes supercede the canvas. I was pretty excited to see it hung up on a wall. At the gallery itself, since it was outdoors, it ended up being hung from a tree, which I actually enjoyed. I felt the environment played well with the transparent elements of the piece, and if anything the square frame of the paper just added to the boxed in feeling of the piece. Unfortunately I don't have a good photo of it since it was the evening and my phone camera isn't the best. Still, I was pretty happy with how it turned out!
I'm always curious to hear how others interpret my artwork, so I'd love to hear your thoughts, interpretations, and analysis in the comments!