In my recent drawings I concentrate on the remembrance of direct observation as a vehicle for exploring the relationship between memory and pictorial expression. In a struggle to infuse my images with meaning, I have found that constantly revising and changing compositions in mid-process poses the risk of failure yet creates a dialogue between the artist and the work that constitutes the basis for effective visual communication with the viewer. Drawing on my experiences of living in Japan, then changing views while living in Southern California, and now in my current location of Kentucky, I choose ordinary people and their environments as subjects to initiate my research. By focusing on the unique gestures of human figures and amplifying urban settings, I experiment with shifting points of view to establish a new context for daily visual experiences and to engage the audience with points of view outside the scope of everyday life.
My aim is to investigate the capacity of pictorial form to intensify aspects of our daily visual experiences: the change in mood between familiar and unfamiliar spaces, glances and lines of sight between people, and details that potentially slip into the periphery of vision unnoticed. These characteristics provide fuel for creating unusual viewpoints, which reveal the value of daily life as a topic for exploration in drawing.
Sketchbook studies challenge me to capture the distinctness of particular locations and specific gestures of human figures. I also use photographs as a supplement to document light and textures. Drawing on location allows me to internalize visual experiences, establishing strong associations between recorded visual ideas and memory to be accessed later while working from imagination. I begin each piece with abstract mark making on the paper's surface, and then rotate the paper until it suggested a challenging theme or particular point of view worth investigating. For me, the process of drawing is an exercise in visual memory as I attempted to transform marks into recognizable figurative imagery. When solutions for treating imagined space, figures and environments are exhausted, I returned to observational study for clarification.
With each drawing the process of searching for a unique interpretation of subjects without immediate reference material creates a sense of uncertainty. This parallels the anxiety I had experienced living abroad, when I struggled to start a career in business and studio art without the necessary training or full assimilation into the culture. The spontaneity of my working process permits an intuitive growth of composition and the chance for images to progressively suggest a narrative. Relationships between human figures determine narrative content, provoking the viewer to associate images with his or her personal experience and memories.
Some of my influences are the sensitive observations of Edward Hopper, the urban environments and figure arrangements of Robert Birmelin, and Edgar Degas' varying eye levels and dynamic compositions. The graphic novel artists Leinel Yu and Travis Charest with their use of the figure, sense of form, and distortion of environments to create deep space have also influenced my formal sensibilities.
born: 1980, Kansas City, MO
education
California State University, Long Beach, MFA, 2008
Bradley University, BFA, 2003
selected awards/honors
California State University, Long Beach Purchase Award, Insights 2008, 2008
Award of Excellence, 60th Southern Japan Art Exhibition, 2005
Grand Prize, 52nd Kagoshima Prefectural Art Exhibition, 2005
selected publications
Direct Art; Emerging Artists 2007. Hudson, NY: UCODA Institute p. 97, 2007
60th Southern Japan Art Exhibition. Kagoshima, Japan: Southern Japan Newspaper p. 11, 2005
Kouichi Shibatachi. "Face." Southern Japan Newspaper, 20 May 2005
selected solo or two-person shows
Gatov Gallery: Shifting Perspectives, Long Beach, CA, 2008
Arumoni: People, Paper, Canvas, Kagoshima, Japan, 2005
Gallery 305A: New Genre, East Peoria, IL, 2002
selected group shows
Heusser Gallery: 32nd Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Peoria, IL, 2009
The Constant Gallery: Foehn Documents, Culver City, CA, 2008
Limner Gallery: Emerging Artists 2007, Hudson, NY, 2007
