Andrew Thornton
|
|
The World Undone, Andrew Thornton
|
|
My current process began by revisiting works I had done the previous five years and “cannibalizing” these pieces to create new ones with collage. When I use the terminology collage, I mean it in more than just a stylistic or technical sense, but in a conceptual way as well. It’s about taking two or more elements of different analytical thought and merging them into one coalesced body. No pretense at motherless perfection is attempted; all of my work stems from sources rooted in my own archive of imagery developed from personal investigations in philosophy, biology, and art history.
|
|
|
Subtle Seduction, Andrew Thornton
|
In the past, my work has been engaged in ideas of identity, commodity, race, religion, urbanism, and sexuality. Each of these ideas are addressed specifically with various techniques and trades. I have utilized calligraphy, weaving, lithography, photography, drawing, fabrics and textiles, and painting to answer the individual concerns.
|
|
Everyday Secret Mythologies, Andrew Thornton
|
|
Marilyn Undone, Andrew Thornton
|
|
Subtle Seduction, Andrew Thornton
|
|
|
As this process is derived from different ideas and ways of working, it attempts the task of bridging and bringing together the different pieces and parts. In Jewish mysticism, there is a significant phrase, Tikkun Olam, which in Hebrew means, “repairing the world.” The current work attempts to “repair” my fragmented personal cosmology.
Engaging this process has resulted in the creation of pieces that range in size from small 8” X 10” pieces, to larger 8’ X 12’’ works. My goal is to create a very modernistic and formally developed space within the individual pieces. Complimentary colors, color temperatures, variations in line-weight, and size-shifts are used to push and pull the space and create depth. I look at the space literally as parallel planes, stacking and overlaying them in an attempt to compress the space between the planes; creating a dynamic iconic space. The collages are highly textured and pay a great deal of attention to surface. Papers are woven, stitched, photocopied, sliced, coated in medium and resin, and layered to create the surface.
|
|
All the spatial elements are considered to enhance the temporal. I use stripes and repetition of pattern to organize and develop a visual rhythm. This rhythm creates movement in a most literal sense, the eye moves along as directed. In Buddhist sculpture, this idea was honed to further meditation.
|
Afterglow, Andrew Thornton
|
When these works were originally started, I saw it as a way to examine, challenge, and understand the visual vocabulary that I was creating; harmonizing a seemingly disparate collection of individual bodies of work. It forced me to look at myself and my relationship with the world more closely. In exploring myself in this body of work, I've also made a literal investigation of the human body and what is in it - spiritually, physically, psychologically, emotionally.
|
|
|
|
|
