As an artist, I think the taboo offers great opportunity. Although some of my recent work has explored sexual motifs, I don’t limit myself to sex-shock-art. I look for ways to transform mundane, unappealing, often appalling realities of life into more enthralling visual experiences. My work also contains a running personal narrative that is bent into a creative composition.
My gendered drawings demonstrate my own discontentment with women’s traditional place in social-sexual society. I draw women who take charge of men and their environment. Furthermore, through my experiences drawing and painting from nude models in studio classes, the nude became the most physically expressive human form. I often stain the paper with natural materials such as coffee or juice with a muted wash, to accentuate the ink line drawings.
This work may create an uncomfortable relationship with viewers. At first, viewers are likely to question my repressions. Subsequently, I hope they question their own relationship with sex, power, and sanity. For me, the most instinctual way to assert the divine feminine is to subvert the sexual domination of men.
The technique of my art has changed from very precise realism to a more detached type of surrealism over the last three years. I feel that this demonstrates an immense growth in my ability. I no longer erase and redraw “more perfect” forms because I am able to render something that innately looks like a tangible form.
In many of my recent works, I use a grungy, dripping and wavering line to delineate subjects in a more negative connotation. I have chosen a selection of these darker and less colorful works to demonstrate a cohesive statement in my portfolio, but that is not the only way that I draw. The imagery and narrative of the work affects my approach to each drawing I make. For more lighthearted imagery, I enjoy adding colors and natural renderings.
Tori Whitehead
ReplyDeleteArtist Statement
As an artist, I think the taboo offers great opportunity. Although some of my recent work has explored sexual motifs, I don’t limit myself to sex-shock-art. I look for ways to transform mundane, unappealing, often appalling realities of life into more enthralling visual experiences. My work also contains a running personal narrative that is bent into a creative composition.
My gendered drawings demonstrate my own discontentment with women’s traditional place in social-sexual society. I draw women who take charge of men and their environment. Furthermore, through my experiences drawing and painting from nude models in studio classes, the nude became the most physically expressive human form. I often stain the paper with natural materials such as coffee or juice with a muted wash, to accentuate the ink line drawings.
This work may create an uncomfortable relationship with viewers. At first, viewers are likely to question my repressions. Subsequently, I hope they question their own relationship with sex, power, and sanity. For me, the most instinctual way to assert the divine feminine is to subvert the sexual domination of men.
The technique of my art has changed from very precise realism to a more detached type of surrealism over the last three years. I feel that this demonstrates an immense growth in my ability. I no longer erase and redraw “more perfect” forms because I am able to render something that innately looks like a tangible form.
In many of my recent works, I use a grungy, dripping and wavering line to delineate subjects in a more negative connotation. I have chosen a selection of these darker and less colorful works to demonstrate a cohesive statement in my portfolio, but that is not the only way that I draw. The imagery and narrative of the work affects my approach to each drawing I make. For more lighthearted imagery, I enjoy adding colors and natural renderings.