Ingredients of a Subway Car won the 2017 Ivyside Juried Art Competition. Juried Solo Exhibition coming up for 9/14/17 through 11/18/2017. Click image below to see the ingredients of the winning project.
The significance of the Subway Car is in that it holds together in very close proximity, quite unique in the world, people of all walks of life, ages and positions in the world. People that otherwise would not have each other in their personal space. In that the Subway Car is like a practical Buddha that is the focal point in the action of many hands.
This series of drawings and simulations arose from the realization that during simple and mundane daily activity, like holding onto the rails in the subway, the hands draw extraordinary three-dimensional shapes. As they move through space they create flowing, complex structures of hand trails - this body of work explores these ephemeral constructs.
The NYC subway has always been an endless animation, with hands of various sizes coming and going, getting strung firmly for a bit and then letting go. Also the great stories of the subway, sometimes you hear a life’s story by the time you get off. Often strange and sometimes with villains in various disguises.
The pen and ink drawings of hand structures are created using dip pen and ink on board. Drawing with dip pen and ink is an archaic technique of drawing dating back to the reed pens of 400 BC. The paper is an American board which is made with very heavy presses which compress the fibers of the paper into a unique smooth finish. The pen’s sharp point produces etching like effect and deposits tiny particles of pigments in the grooves of the paper and the drawing looks and feels like a one of a kind etching. Each video is created with one or several pen and ink drawings, scanned, animated or simulated on the computer.
These drawings and simulations follow the expansion in time and space of several hand drawings. They travel in a series of gestures, follow a think line and coalesce into three-dimensional structures. My own hands serve as the models and main building element of my work because they are present and available, constantly traversing and dominating my personal space.