17 Digital Etchings (each 1-of-1s)
(6000px X 6000px, 1200 DPI)
View the collection: “Monica”
Shop the collection on OpenSea
Juxtaposition is core to my work. I am particularly fond of old vs. new. Old school, traditional printmaking aesthetics is a consistent theme married with contemporary compositions, treatments, and tooling. I am an artist-turned-engineer-turned-artist. My work is literally black and white.
When I first set out on my next collection, I wanted something new - but not completely. Something that was an extension of my work, me personally, and where I’m coming from as I embark in a transition from an engineering world to the arts.
Coming from something and wanting something new—a transition we all go through so many times over our lives.
I stumbled across Monica. Monica is not someone. She is an identity. She is a culture and a reference point. She is a wine grape, a local black grape varietal, central to Sardinian wine. She’s woven into the culture though her origins are lost to history.
I knew then and there, she was for me.
On the surface, Monica links to my own Italian/Sardinian heritage, my last collection, “Xinomavro” (another obscure wine varietal), and to the handworked, black nature of my earlier work (a style whose origin is, even to me, a little fuzzy at this point).
Deeper, Monica is an expression of personal identity, one that may seem so obvious and clear in the moment, but whose origins and evolutions may be hard to pinpoint.
This collection starts with my grandmother, weaves through wine, and borrows from earlier work. It is sometimes literal and specific, other times abstract, cultural, and vague.
It is a reflection of origins—occasionally concrete and emotional with many things missing.
I am embarking on a big change in my life, from something analytical but creative to something fluid but needing structure.
One could say the same for today’s world of fine art itself, moving from the analog to the digital.
I am forced to look backwards and forwards to better understand where I should be now.
This collection isn’t any more about me than Monica is about any one individual.
“Monica”, the collection is raw and stark, personal and unique, rough, beautiful, tender, confident. Monica is a nod to the past while looking to the future. There are no stories to be told on where each Monica came from but they all share commonality.
Through this work, I want to inspire a sense of connection and appreciation between where we come from and where we are headed. And, I hope the universality of transitions across generations, locales, and personal journeys resonates with the viewer.
Cheers.
See more of my work at whackwhack.art.
While this work is digital native, I urge you to print and hang this work. Dimensions are variable. Original is high-red digital and can be adjusted from 10”x10” to 24”x24” within an optimal range.
Full collection: “Monica”
Shop the collection on OpenSea
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