Here is my latest silkscreen print:
I'm still struggling with this medium so the print is far from perfect. I titled it "2085" which will be 100 years after I was born. It is a view of my living room. I think the meaning is quite obvious: nature taking over the man-made world. I see it as a positive piece, hopeful that one day the natural world will re-grow and be healthy once again. What that means for the human race, I'm not sure. Either we will make ourselves extinct, or we will learn how to live in this world rather than against it.
The ironic thing about this print? Some of the very trees in this print were there outside my window when I made this drawing. They were much smaller, but I'm adding many years. The day I finished the print - adding the green - all those trees were cut down. Our landlord decided to "clean up" our yard. They cut down a huge palm tree, a small palm tree, a persimmon tree, and at least 3 more. They trimmed other trees to look like skeletons holding a couple of leaves at the top. They cleared many vines and shrubs. Our house now sits on an almost barren lot. I made an entire series of art called "Ecocide" which means 'the destruction of the environment' so I'm obviously quite upset about all of this. Nobody even gave us a chance to say anything before it all happened. One day I heard chain saws and then looked outside to see our yard raped and empty.
In other news, I am working on my next print. For this project we are printing t-shirts, so I couldn't help but revisit the octopus. The assignment was "monsters/creatures" so I made an octopus-like creature with scales. It will be a 3-run print (which means 3 colors) and hopefully I will run my first color tomorrow. Here is what the screen looks like right now:
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| "2085" |
The ironic thing about this print? Some of the very trees in this print were there outside my window when I made this drawing. They were much smaller, but I'm adding many years. The day I finished the print - adding the green - all those trees were cut down. Our landlord decided to "clean up" our yard. They cut down a huge palm tree, a small palm tree, a persimmon tree, and at least 3 more. They trimmed other trees to look like skeletons holding a couple of leaves at the top. They cleared many vines and shrubs. Our house now sits on an almost barren lot. I made an entire series of art called "Ecocide" which means 'the destruction of the environment' so I'm obviously quite upset about all of this. Nobody even gave us a chance to say anything before it all happened. One day I heard chain saws and then looked outside to see our yard raped and empty.
In other news, I am working on my next print. For this project we are printing t-shirts, so I couldn't help but revisit the octopus. The assignment was "monsters/creatures" so I made an octopus-like creature with scales. It will be a 3-run print (which means 3 colors) and hopefully I will run my first color tomorrow. Here is what the screen looks like right now:
That green stuff is drawing fluid. It is painted on [VERY SLOWLY - it's just a slow medium] after marking in the image with washable marker. Once it is dry, screen filler is applied to cover the entire surface. After that is dry, I will spray the whole screen with the hose. The screen filler will stay, but the drawing fluid will wash away, leaving the areas where the ink will be able to flow through. The image on the screen may not seem to make much sense and that is because I fit all three color runs onto one screen. That means when I print one color, I will block the other areas with packaging tape.
I can't wait to have my octopus t-shirts of my own design!
The screams of those trees are still echoing. Makes me want to scream as well. But thanks for sharing.
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