True Forms
Ben W.
Ink Fineliner, watercolor paper
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True Forms is my most recent piece that I have spent over 70 hours mapping out and shading. I used no reference images: the piece was drawn entirely from imagination and memory. In my process, I apply structured partitioning methods I've learned in geometry to guide composition and proportions, and complement it with amorphous subjects like jellyfish. In this “self portrait”, the ruined temple represents the ornate yet antiquated systems and structures of thought presented by western literary canon. While I believe that studying these systems of thought are invaluable, I also think there is value in exploration of other systems of thought as well. This is why the ruins are contained by the circular borders that the jellyfish can break. I chose eastern architecture because my family originates from east Asia: western thought influences the way I think and therefore becomes part of me regardless of my past. Finally, through the juxtaposition of fluent and structured subjects, I hope to convey an appreciation for the human ability to be both rational and irrational. I find western thinking’s obsession with objectivity and dichotomies fascinating yet shortsighted: simplistic logical structure is beautiful, yet so are spectrums. My drawings operate within a black and white framework, yet it is the gray areas that complete them. What I hope the viewer walks away with is a curiosity about the values and perceptions of truth they hold most dear, and a new appreciation for the rational and irrational sides we all possess.
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I think of creativity as the ability to coalesce bodies of knowledge to problem-solve, express an idea, and explore oneself: creativity isn't necessarily artistic (in the traditional sense). For me, creativity exists in the elegance of a mathematical solution and engineering robotics mechanisms just as it does in my drawing.
