Saturday, October 24, 2009

New Etching Series




I've been working on an etching series featuring animals being stalked by human shadows alluding to the deadly fate that they face daily in the human world.

By experimenting with textures and different acid resists I was able to achieve the eerie atmosphere in the prints that define the series.

This series was created with a mixture of effort to tap into my most gut-wrenching feelings about the plight of non-human animals in a human world as well as hints of satisfaction that I am finally dealing with political issues in my artwork that deeply matter to me.

It's not always easy to deal with deeply emotional and/or political issues when my muse is calling but again it's not very satisfying for me to skip lightly on the surface with little to say about what's down deep. I wonder how many other artists deal with this struggle.

UPDATE: The Huffington Post has been running a series of articles on a new book by Jonathan Safran Foer
called Eating Animals. As Huff Po contributor, Dr. Andrew Weil, puts it, "Foer makes it clear that factory farming is the exceptional human activity that debases and destroys everything it touches: land, people, communities, and most of all, the innocents at the nexus, animals."

3 comments:

Aine Scannell said...

I think these prints are very good Spider...and I feel too this sense of sadness about how animals are treated and yet I am a carnivore. Its a difficult issue and I think you are brave to address it in your work. The technical skill demonstrated is very commendable. Co incidentally I have started to do a bit of etching lately so lets hop I stick with it and make some progress. Great to see what you have been up to lately I always enjoys popping by.

Aine

Anonymous said...

Lovely work...these are so gripping. It really appeals to my base instinct to help those animals- but yet I feel so selfish in thinking that it's inevitable...

Gorgeous etchings.

Unknown said...

These are very powerful images, and I think that your intention really comes across.