As you can see, the main building bricks of my abstract vocabulary at this point were: loose, Zen inspired, flying-ink/broken-ink brushtsrokes; Rorschach blots; and blots carefully drawn to look as if spontaneous, and also similarly drawn blot-like lines around the genuinely spontaneous part of the images. I liked that dichotomy between genuinely spontaneous and only apparently spontaneous--the real blot and the fake blot--and it has stayed with me ever since. My primary influences were Jackson Pollock and Zen calligraphy but also, to be honest, the first and last pages of the sixth issue of "Watchmen." Overall, though, I would say I was trying to do a kind of Zen painting that questioned the demand for simple spontaneity that you find in traditional Zen art theory.
Edit: looking again at the images, I can't help but feel that the main influence on the first one in this post--influence remembered, subconsciously, since childhood--was Kipling's illustrations to "Just So Stories."
1 comment:
i heavily dig the inksling on top, reminding me of Haida worlds, yet quite loose & living, it comes thru like animal spirits do.
i'm glad you dug these up, it's been good viewings, altho i might have to add the technique of careful drawing combined w/ spontaneous to my swipe file, it's an excellent approach & as you've illustrated here, is capable of garnering keen results.
lightningstrikes!
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