Well, at the end of January I had the opportunity for a one man show at our little gallery on campus. The work shown was a mix of new stuff, older unpublished work, and work from my grad show in summer 2005. Even with my limited experience, I have found that I have a love/hate relationship with showing my work. On one hand, it forces me to evaluate where I am at with my work; what is new, what kind of stuff I'm working on, where I want to be with my work, and what I need to accomplish to get the show put together. On the other hand, the amount of work required to do a show is staggering for all the above reasons, plus making new work, publicizing, planning the show in the gallery space, hanging the show and then doing the opening. Whew! Why would I do it? Besides the obvious boost to the ego, and the real evaluation of work, it does look good on the academic resume and my students really get a kick out of it.
Click on images to enlarge.
There were two pieces of new work in this show that I really loved. One is called "A study". Shown below. The impetus for the piece came from an assignment I give my Design 1 students. I traced many, many different letter 'A's, then cut them out, and finished by pasting them down to a piece of printmaking paper is the shape of a lowercase letter 'a' from the typeface Mrs. Eaves Roman. It got me away from the computer screen and working by hand again, which was a big deal for me.
The second is called, simply, "Dad".
I took my father's name and words that I think about when I think of him, and I began layering them to create a portrait of him at the time he and my mother were married. Because I have such an affinity for words and letterforms, the portrait takes on more significance for me than just an image. The closer you look, you can see that even the areas that look like they are solid black are really layered type.
I had to put it in the show before I was quite finished, so if the images look a little unfinished, you know they are. I am working to finish it as we speak. When I do, I am going to make a framed copy for mom and the siblings if they want one.
The other images are of other parts of the show. If you have any questions, ask.
5 comments:
You make me cry! The picture you did of our dad is so beautiful! I really must have a framed copy of it. I am so proud of you. You are amazing at what you do. Love you.
Whoa! There are tears streaming down my face. What an awesome tribute to your father! You are so amazing. There is no way that this portrait would be the same without the words included. I would love to have a copy but that might seem stupid. He isn't my dad but I feel such a connection to him through all of your family. I can't wait to meet him.
I love you and what you do!
I have always felt like you were an amazing graphic designer. Your picture of your dad has made me cry. Thank you Jay boy for the love and respect that you have always shown for your dad. I hope that you will finish it and we can all have a framed copy in our homes. I know that your show was a success! I wish that I could have seen it. Thank you for posting the pictures. Love you!
Jay,
You are so talented, it's unbelievable. The portrait is amazing, I keep clicking back and forth from big to small and can't believe the detail. What a tribute.
Love you guys!
Post a Comment