"In an age of infinite digital documentation,
paper was the last safe place for secrets."
-- Evan Angler, Swipe
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| Self portrait, spray paint and acrylic paint on newsprint, 1-13-14 |
"My life looked good on paper -- where, in fact,
almost all of it was being lived."
-- Martin Amis, Experience: A Memoir
"I am full of mistakes and imperfections
and therefore I am real ..."
-- Shaun Hick, The Ghost And Its Shadow
Sometimes it feels really good to dust off the old-school art supplies.
Digital art has its place, but it can feel cold and unsatisfying.
Sometimes it feels revolutionary, even rebellious, to make something with my hands, something I can feel, something that gets up under my fingernails, smeared onto my clothes and dripped all over the floor.
For this self portrait, I taped together a large stencil using real Scotch tape, then cut it out with a real X-acto knife. I laid out the stencil on a real sheet of poster-sized newsprint, held down with a spritz of real spray adhesive, then spray painted it graffiti-style with real spray paint. Then I painted over the spray painted image with real acrylics.
Then (gasp!) I had to wait for it to dry.
I didn't sit at my desk all hunched over my laptop. I stood at my worktable, and knelt down on the garage floor. I wore my paint-spattered apron, shirt sleeves pushed up to my elbows. I breathed in fumes and made a mess.
My spirit relaxed and said "Aaah."
Instead of a digitized, computer-bound, deletable image, the result of my effort is a big, real, tactile, poster-sized self portrait that makes that same satisfying crinkly sound that my kindergarten paintings did. My scanner isn't big enough to accommodate it, so I did have to take a digital photograph so I could share it here. Alas. The digital part of art still got a piece of the action. But just a tiny piece.
It's also too big for the fridge, but I can hang it on my workroom wall if I want to.
I think I just might.
I think it'll look real good there.
Real. Good.
