BLAKE O'BRIEN
To have a definitive concept before beginning a work is to finish what has not even had the chance to begin. The delineation of thought and application of charcoal on paper must be done simultaneously in order to find an honest and whole image. As I wrestle with a drawing I may change a shape's nature from geometric to organic, or move an edge to be in syntax with the format. Those same decisions concurrently change a king into a wizard or a shoulder into a chair.
The visceral process of searching for visual and associative harmony is a self-sustaining and self-transforming one which is begun by the artist and which should end somewhere in the unknown. The process gives the individual the opportunity to discover within and without himself. An interesting thing to me is that when discussing this process (when applied to any situation), we realize that humans have the ability to actually teach themselves. Whether it be through trial and error or the sequential steps in the mind when solving a problem, the fact is clear that we get ideas; ideas that were not put into our minds from the outside world. Where do these thoughts come from if not from outside of ourselves? Did we know these things all along?
I use the two-dimensional plane as a tool to explore my own psyche. The metaphysical elements of life are what I find beautiful- being, time, knowledge - and it is these which I attempt to make physical.