New Work: Coming To Get You

Coming To Get You
16" x 20"
​Painted Paper Collage on Board

As I work on these pieces I generally make notes in my sketchbook about ideas that may have inspired me or even about some of the next shapes and colors that I might want to use. The notes help me to remember at the end if I was after something specific or what I may have been thinking about. It's a useful practice and I recommend doing it as you go about your creative endeavors.

For this piece, I started with some "prompter" ideas. How are all vertebrates alike? How are mammals alike? Well, I quickly abandoned these questions and focused in on some things that I was watching on TV and reading about instead. I saw a PBS special on TV about the gene (human genome) and I also watched an additional special on a related topic, gene therapy and the future of gene manipulation. It's exciting but very frightening technology. Like anything else, there is plenty of room for abuse.

While this piece is not meant to convey any specific idea in a serious way, I did choose some images that reminded me of things that I learned about and which caught my attention: genes, the human body (the spinal cord in particular), CRISPR technology and the CAS9 protein, and parasites. (I read a book about parasites as well. Good stuff!) I guess I can't get over the idea of just how active our existence is. There is so much in motion on the most microscopic level (and also on the more visible, macro level) that I just have a very hard time grasping what is actually going on. We definitely do not live in a static world, that is for sure. I don't know if my work reflects something about this or not; I am not consciously trying to portray that incessant activity going on all around us. The work is busy though, I know that. And I do want viewers to wonder what is going on in each piece. It's always a good thing for me when the viewer can supply their own narrative.

OK, I have been doing some work in my sketchbook with small, layered collages. I have also been hand printing papers with my gelli plate and I have begun making some frottage papers as well. That's been really fun. I have been using some artist grade wax crayons for the frottage and things are working out well. I am starting to get more comfortable with mixing plain colored paper with printed paper. It's kind of been a long time in the making! 

As always, thank you for reading. Let me know what you think about the above piece.
Libby
​libbyfife@ymail.com