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Surfaces of growth and decay, beauty and repulsion: addressing the abject and the sublime through drawings of the natural world

Date

2013

Authors

Scheck, Naomi, author
Kokoska, Mary-Ann, advisor
Lehene, Marius, committee member
Ryan, Ajean, committee member
Moseman, Eleanor, committee member
Harrow, Del, committee member
Rickard, Kathryn, committee member

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Abstract

My artwork has largely been influenced by my understanding of the natural world as being in constant flux. Through my drawings I explore natural life processes that are both beautiful and destructive, addressing growth and decay. I seek to present a visual and sensory experience that generates emotions of awe and imagination, but also challenges and confronts idealized views about life and natural processes. My intentions are similar with those of abjection, which occurs when that which is normally ignored, unacknowledged, or uncomfortable is exposed. I work with tensions between beauty and ugliness in my artworks in order to address these ideas. My drawings work on a microscopic and macroscopic scale, which addresses relationships between intimacy and distance. I work with fine detail on large pieces of paper, so the drawings are viewed both from up close and from afar. At a distance the drawings look like organic formations or topographies, but up close, the detail and volume of marks become prominent. Obsessive accumulation is also important; the multitude of various marks cannot be counted or comprehended, which references the notion of the sublime. The various elements of the drawings work together to create the feeling of an amorphous entity in the midst of uncertainty and change.

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Subject

biomorphic
sublime
obsessive
nature
drawing
abject

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