GUILDED SPLINTERS, BACON STRIPS, SYMMETRY SERIES

2011 - 2013

The drawing series Bacon Strips from 2011, Symmetry Series from 2013, and Guilded Splinters also from 2013, all take on the issue of symmetry as an organizational idea. Symmetry is used here to fix and stabilize the figure on the plane. The balance of symmetry can imply a stasis akin to the pinning of an insect in a display case. The dynamics that then develop are not a narrative movement across the plane suggesting temporal movements and flows, pasts and futures. The dynamic movement is instead one of a subtle thickening of depth into the plane. The figures bend and layer, sometimes twitch and wiggle under their symmetrical pinning. The other aspect that each representation builds is that although the global gestalt is one of pure symmetry, as one looks at the images longer it becomes clear that there is no element that is purely symmetrical. Across each axis there are differences. These differences spur an engagement with the work that shuffles the eye back and forth across the implied symmetry as one looks for the stability of repetition only to find it slightly altered on each side. The drawing technique used for these representations is built from straight lines tangent and normal to a series of interpolated curves. For an explanation of this technique see the description of the Involutes drawing series.