Poor Yorick

Comment

Comment by Resident Curator on May 6, 2012 at 7:19pm

Curator’s Comment:  

               

Gorgeous skull- the deep contrasting hues and elegant line work reminds me of Horst Janssen’s similarly morose drawings.   While this image doesn’t have the intricate illustration and narrative content seen in many of your other works on the site, the asymmetry of the composition is especially arresting. The large amount of white space with faint markings permits the viewer enough visual rest to fully appreciate the subject, and imbues it with an unnerving finality.  I also appreciate its open value pattern, as the darker transitions of color bleed from inside the skull to the exterior edge; likewise the top of the skull becomes faint against the light ground.  The small splatters echo the circular eye sockets, while the erratic lines move spatially across the open expanse of the picture plane.  The piece entitled Mechanism shares a similar emphasis on a singular subject, but here the unfamiliarity of the form adds to the weighty importance and prominence.  I find the warm and cool washes in this piece contrast the linear mechanism, rather than add to the organic figuration in the former piece. While the watercolor painting medium is indicated, these works appear largely to be about the drawing process.  They make use of expert line quality, and are both graceful and robust.