Statement
Woodcut printmaking has a long tradition of dealing in narrative, including single image epics and complete novels composed entirely of woodcuts. The medium is often chosen for its ability to distill a complex idea into something immediate and powerful. The potent efficiency of this 9th century technology seems especially relevant today as the world adjusts to fundamental changes in the ways we deal with information.
A four color woodcut can take more than 80 hours to complete. The slow, physical nature of cutting the wood offers an opportunity to meditate on a single idea or image for an extended time – a welcome contrast to the often frantic pace of a time dominated by multiple uninterrupted streams of communication and content.
Explosion imagery has emerged in my work as metaphor for sudden, unexpected change in life and the anxiety that such change can bring. The explosions are both chaotic and ordered as they show a combination of kinetic spikes, puffs and edges along with groupings of recognizable and semi-recognizable objects. These small objects are mined from my stream of consciousness at a particular stage in the drawing process, creating a snap shot of what was on mind at that particular time.
For most of us, our knowledge of explosions is limited to what we see in television shows, movies and other 2nd hand accounts. We know we are to fear something, but don't know much about the thing we fear. That void can to be filled by with our personal anxieties and vulnerabilities. As the idea of a thing is often more powerful than the thing itself, the explosion images are a means to seize and take control of the idea of the thing feared.
The idea that anything can be a bomb adds another layer of fear and uncertainty. A bomb is no longer thought of as a shiny black ball with a sparkling fuse. Today, it's a trash can, suitcase, a common piece refuse on the street or even another human being. The debris woodcuts depict clusters and arrays of shrapnel made of everyday items. Though they are still menacing to a degree, they are mostly tamed and brought under at least a loose order.