statement

This drawing was done working almost entirely with line, which allows my work to be constructed from the bottom up, so to speak. I start by drawing the image out in pencil. I then go over the pencils in micron pens. Once the entire image is drawn out in pen; I begin erasing. This erasure is how I get the various value shifts in the ink, thusly creating the atmospheric perspective. I then draw over the erased ink and work my way forward from the furthest point in the background. I draw a layer, erase, I draw the next layer, erase, etc.

In my opinion, when most people think of pen and ink, they think comics, which are usually created for kids. "Art" however, is marveled by but often misunderstood by children. My love for comics is partly why I enjoy creating these technically demanding works in the "comic book medium." To give a parallel example: if an author would be working in this way, they would be writing a tragedy in crayon. I find this contradiction amusing. My drawings are an extension of myself, and I don't consider myself a serious person. When I draw, I like breaking from the seriousness or the maturity that art has come to be attributed with. I consider my drawings as works of realism in that I don't hide behind abstraction, surrealism, or some profound statement. I draw what I see or what I imagine other people see and more often than not my perception is skewed.

bio

born: 1988, United States

education

Kendall College of Art and Design, BFA, 2012

selected awards/honors

Award of Excellence, Peoria Art Guild Fine Art Fair, 2012
Best of 2D, St. Charles Art Fair, 2012
Vi Fogel Uretz Award, 57th St. Art Fair, 2011

selected publications

The MacGuffin; Winter 2013. Livonia, MI: Schoolcraft College p. 32-33, 2013
BLUECANVAS; Fourteen. Los Angeles, CA: Bluecanvas, Inc. p. 80-81, 2012

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Drawings in Ink, Artists' Own, Lafayette, IN, 2013
Colluvium, Byrneboehm Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI 2012

selected group shows

10 under 40, River Gallery, Chelsea, MI, 2012
Artprize, Grand Rapids, MI, 2011
Festival of the Arts, Grand Rapids Museum of Art, Grand Rapids, MI, 2011