Prompt & Response | Online Gallery

I had a wonderful time at the opening reception of Prompt & Response! The pieces that I displayed at Studio Articolore were specifically developed to answer a series of questions or 'prompts' provided by the gallery. I wanted to take the time in this entry to share and explain the imagery that was created for the exhibition.  Enjoy!

Prompt & Response

Curatorial Statement: Prompt & Response represents a collective of illustrations by two Northwest artists, Lindsay Tebeck and Sarah Pierce. As the title suggests, each response, a culmination from premise to visual expression utilizes their means and styles indicative to each interpretation. Use of line, shading, and color, move the viewer through meaning whether narrative or full magnitude, connecting the prompt through uniqueness and similarities of two perceptions. Their diverse styles generate visual content far greater in understanding than a conversation using the parameters and mitigating concepts to fruition.

1            "Does effective art depend on questioning or contentment with ones surroundings?"

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Complacency never inspired growth and to be content is to turn from positive change. I feel it would be a waste of artistry not to use my illustrative background in order to question and challenge issues from time to time. Being an artistic individual means I have access to a visual voice, which I aim to use to tackle issues that are critical to me; whether they be social, political, or personal. I took prompt one quite literally. Am I content with my surroundings? Am I okay with oil spills in my water, or mass run offs and factory pollutants? What about the constant destruction of aquatic ecosystems?

No. No I am not.

This piece, Oil & Water,  focuses on an issue that causes me discontent. I want the viewer to feel just as uncomfortable as I am with my surrounding-.I want them to think about the negatives. It is important to be uncomfortable from time to time. We need not be content and sit beside ignorance, but instead rise and question our surroundings.

Oil & Water
​11”x17”, mounted to 13”x19.5”
Pen and Ink on Bristol
​Full View

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Lady Devout
​11”x17”, mounted to 13"x19.5"
Oil Paint on MDF Board
Full View

2              "What does a person of faith look like?"

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A woman stands before an alter, hands bound in coarse rope. The braids then hang down and wrap about the offering bowl before her. Her left hand carries an abundance of gold coins, each touting a glimmering cross. Her right clasps one of these glinted coins, lifting it in motion to drop her tithe into the bowl below.  Her finger obstructs partial view of her face, pointing upwardly at the divine entity that we cannot see. Behind her, a glorious arrangement of stained glass create a nimbus-like frame around her.

She is blind.

To sum it up, Lady Devout is a stark picture of all that I find ugly in faith. I use symbolism religiously, but that is as spiritual as I get. 

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Indian Giver
11”x17”, mounted to 13"x19.5"
Oil Paint on MDF Board
Full View

3                              "Where is passion for art drawn from?"

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Indian Giver is a piece born from personal experience and symbolism. I have found the pomegranate to be a very intimate motif that both connects with and displays my personal mythology. The pomegranate represents fertility, good tidings, and knowledge in an array of classical tales. Like the fruit of knowledge, however, it can convey temptation and damnation.

The figure in this oil painting holds the fruit close, the pomegranate's juices smear across the man's face, suggesting that the fruit has been ravished. As the title would lead you to think, the gift (the fruit),  was taken back by the giver. He hides, nude, among the pomegranate flora and leaves. Three scarabs accompany him, further tokens of himself.

For me, passion for art is drawn from personal experience. Love, despair, and pleasure have all been ingredients for my artistic drive. Indian Giver includes all of these things through the thick language of symbology.

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Human Evolution
11”x17”, mounted to 13”x19.5”
Pen and Ink on Bristol Board
Full View

4                    "In defining natural, can mankind restore his environment?"

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As I touched on in my description of prompt one, I feel deeply that shedding light upon the negatives can activate thought- and ultimately, change. 

In this illustration, I present a world in which no restoration takes place. A world in which mankind continues on the same path of consumer waste and pollution that he is currently on, instead of finding a green alternative solution. In this world trash is piled high, factory fumes billow large, and the ashen air tells us it is always night. Among the trash, I included nature's king scavenger, the vulture. He seems to find our remains quite easily.

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Support Living Artists, the Dead Ones Don't Need It
11”x17”, mounted to 13”x19.5”
Ink & Digital
Full View

5                               "How is artistic beauty perceived?"

'How we perceive beauty' can become a surprisingly complicated and convoluted subject. Many say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I think it lies in the media. After all, it's  media that determines what we like most now.

​That artist that died years ago that nobody gave a hoot about while they were alive? (Think Van Gough) well, now they are more hip than your grandmother's newest prosthetic. Funny how nobody batted an eye as they starved in life, creating the works which would one day sell posthumously for millions. do you think that has something to do with who gets paid?

​Try to look at things from your own eyes. Explore beauty in your own way. Meet new artists, and if you want to buy art, buy from the living.
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​Paradise from Pen
11”x17”, mounted to 13”x19.5”
Ink & Digital
Full View

6                                             "Is paradise found or created?"

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Paradise is ultimately what we make it to be!

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​Phoenix 
11”x17”, mounted to 13”x19.5”
Pen and Ink on Bristol Board
Full View

7                           "Does art fit within a genre or transcend its boundaries?"

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The Phoenix is a common symbol for transcendence and renewal. I chose this flamed mythological bird to encompass the transcendence and ever changing "genre" that art is. 

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​Untitled
11”x17”, mounted to 13”x19.5”
Ink & Digital
​Full View

8          "Is rendering in black & white formal? Does color make art informal?"

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Categorizing art as formal or informal due to color or lack there of is baseless. Both have strengths the lend to to one another. Black and white may present a stark contrast where as color can add more detail and culture to a piece. 

In this piece, I simply showcased the before and after stages of my work process. I start with a black & white traditional inking and then overlay with color. The bare bones of the linework brought clarity to the forms where as the native's robust color bring life and identity to the piece.

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A Single Death is a Tragedy
Ink & Digital
Translation: “A Single Death is a Tragedy; a Million Deaths is a Statistic” – Joseph Stalin 
In Портрет тирана (1981) (Portrait of a Tyrant)
​Full View

9       "Can a single life carry the same impact as a series?"

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I found this question utterly offensive. Though, I can see the optimistic view of one person's lifetime amounting to much through achievement, I see no reason to equate one's life to a multitude of others. 

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​Neurogenesis
11”x17”, mounted to 13”x19.5”
Pen and Ink on Bristol Board
​Full View

10     "Is artistic preference innate or shaped by events?"

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They way that we presieve the world is ultimatly based on our personal experiences. Culture, community, education, and day-to-day life all play a roll in how we interpret what we see, do, or hear. 

Art is no different.

My personal preferences toward line are shaped by a variety of artists and cultures that I found myself being in-compassed by. I grew a love for neotraditionalism due to my being close to the tattoo field, my devotion to line grew as I learned about the art nouveau period, and contemporary poster art influenced my coloring techniques. On top of all this, social, political, and personal events shape what I found to be most important for me to visually share. 

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​Nectar of the Heart
17”x11”, mounted to 19.5”x13”
Pen and Ink on Bristol Board
First Sketch

11           "Where does feedback manifest in the process of your work?"

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Feedback is an important part of illustration. When I first attempted to tackle this concept, the sketch turned out very different. I received much feedback from person on the techniques that I used and thus re-imaged it. 

I think this illustration is also telling in where feedback manifests within me. I take careful criticism as a chance to better myself and develop more visually drawing pieces. I let feedback manifest in my heart.

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​Untitled
​11”x17”, mounted to 13”x19.5”
Pen and Ink on Bristol Board
​Full View

12                                                         "Is every person artistic?"

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I believe that every person has creativity or craft but many lack the ability to voice it. In this pen and ink drawing, I depicted two hands, knotted together. to represent an individual who's potentials are bound. The tools of the trade are there driven deep in their bones, but getting to them is impossible in this position. Through daily practice of their gifts and with the use of keen observation and dedication, one can harness their creative abilities and thus, untie their bound hands.

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​Ouroboros
17”x11”, mounted to 19.5”x13”
Ink & Digital
​Full View

17          "When is art finished or is it always in progress?"

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I felt that an Ouroboros, the mythological serpent creature whom eats its own tail, was an appropriate visual answer to this question as the Ouroboros symbolizes infinity. For me, art is always in progress; even if one piece seems finished, there is always room for adjustments. Completed works can also have the affect of pushing the creator on to another project. The previous piece may of sparked interest in a new medium or subject through experience or research. Art work is always in progress.