Lid intaglio 3.5 x 7 (image size) 17.5 x 11 (paper)
Last semester's etching class allowed me to further concentrate on my experiences in Iraq. The class was geared more towards process and less about getting perfect editions so that we could see how an image evolved on the plate as we worked it. My most recent paintings have been executed in a somewhat similar fashion in that they begin as one thing and become something else. And what results hopefully has just as much to do with a sensibility that I'm trying to get across as the imagery itself. Lately I've been giving more thought as to why, exactly why, we feel one way or another when we look at an image. I've also started to question whether it's necessary at all for me to have anything recognizable in the work in order to have a conversation with the viewer. But I'll have more on that in later posts. Initially this piece was an image of a retransmission base on Sinjar Mountain, but at the end the image became something else entirely. I called it Lid because that's what came to mind as I worked on the plate. It seemed that as I took chances with the plate, the image informed me that it could be something other than what I was shooting for in the first place. So the image changed and I went with it, but to me it retained the sensibility that I was going for. Anyway, I won't try to taint anyone else's interpretation of what it is about to me by explaining further. I think you get the gist. Below are images of how the plate evolved.
