I had penciled out an ad, and an observational sketch beforehand. I wanted linework to play with or ignore as these doodles get layered ontop of or next to.
I also craved the passive making and active looking afforded by collage. The three free comic books I received last Free Comic Book Day have made fine source material. I’m less familiar with the illustrated superhero subject matter. Accordingly, I’ve kept it remote, distanced, focussing first on the gutter compositions.
Frames over the faces. Figures. It was getting narrative. Highlighting some negative space and shapes reigns it in.
I culled my better iphone photos and exposed them onto the next frame. Biographical--why not. On they went (and indecipherably too! Poorly mixed emulsion, shame on me). Another shape of comic frames to keep filling the paper’s space.
The subway letters, I’ve had on a screen for a few months--a personal fixation. Right now they’re providing a nice flattening, binding effect. The shape, color and letter conduct enough meaning to relate to the other source material. But I want them disembodied too: letters in floating circles.
I’m excited to (and under deadline) to finish this work with subsequent fine layering: comics over silkscreen, silkscreen over comics. And back and forth, with my little drawn interferences spreading the eye where they need to. It's a subtle process with quick sweeping steps which require pre-meditation and/or improvisation.
