Obviously I’m not worried about perfection here in a traditionally understood standardized, mainstream, commercial art sense. I also realize I’m really not creating anything breakthrough or revolutionary here as well. Nevertheless, the attempt here is to convey a sense of freedom and liberation from having to perform well in the execution of a work of art. There are innumerable decisions one makes in creating a work of art, and there are perhaps even more possible decisions one decides not to make, that could potentially be made, while making art. Many artists take the route of “what looks best” and “will this look cool to so-and-so?” Even art that’s intended to be rebellious on the surface is frequently merely an attempt to please another, or a group of people, when one probes a little deeper into the motivation of why an artist made this or that piece.
I realize many artists make their art out of a passion and love for what they do primarily. Yet, I still maintain that artists don’t live in a vacuum, and some of us must realize, at some point, that we are making art to show to the public, and to different audiences. It’s just inevitable that we will wonder how our art will be received. The more authentic and original an artist’s work is, the more we may worry how others will perceive it. Letting go of these worries is ultimately the best though. Some artists can’t let go however, and we get caught in webs, jobs, and circles of trying to please someone or a group of people.
I usually steer clear of posting works of art that are displayed on horizontal rectangular picture planes because of how they are reduced in size to the viewer when looking at them on a standard sized computer monitor. If you are using a smart phone, I suppose you could turn your handheld device horizontally in order to see more detail. Problem solved. This is one of my attempts to please you I suppose.
I call this piece Height of the Humble Hoach. It just came to me as I was playing with rhyming variations on the title “Flight of the Bumble Roach” written by The Residents. I didn’t know that hoach is a word, but it actually is. I looked it up and it means to be “full of” or “swarming with” according to the English Oxford dictionary. Its origins come from historical Europe with meanings of to “move jerkily” or to “shake to and fro.” I thought the object in the middle of the picture sort of resembled a bumblebee or some other winged insect. It looks like it’s cruising through the air too.
I wanted to experiment with tearing up drawings I made after soaking them in water and gluing them to new drawings, thus creating textures and layers. This piece you see here is part of a larger drawing I made for an art group I’m a part of with friends. That drawing is called “Absorb” and I haven’t posted it publicly online yet. This piece is basically the left side of Absorb, and it’s turned ninety degrees and flipped horizontally. This differentiated it enough for me to regard it as a piece in itself. For the foundation drawing Absorb, I applied some diluted white acrylic paint as splatters which soaked into the already wet surface. You can see some of that cloudiness in this representation. I also sprinkled some salt on top of the previously mentioned applications which created some interesting small craters and pocks.
Specifications:
Title: Height of the Humble Hoach (version 3)
Source mediums: Water-based and alcohol based ink on paper torn, and recombined with magazine print glued to paper as collage
Source drawing completed: 6/29/2018
Print medium: Hewlett Packard printer ink from Hewlett Packard DesignJet Z2100 printer on Hewlett Packard print paper (Note: print can be made with archival paper and printer if requested)
Digital manipulation completed: 7/31/2018
Dimensions of print: 32 inches by 11 inches
Number of limited edition prints: 25
Investment of print not framed: $65.00
Investment of print framed: $400 (shipping included)
Contact me: evan_travnicek@yahoo.com
Art of eVan 