A Closed System
— 2020
A Closed System 01
mixed media drawing/collage using copperplate etchings on kitakata tissue, mounted on St. Armand cotton rag paper (56 x 76 cm)
A Closed System is a series of mixed-media drawings on cotton rag paper. The tonal drawings of house silhouettes and shelter schematics include collage, etchings, ink, charcoal, graphite and acrylic mediums. Each drawing is 56 x 76 cm.
This series of collage/drawings examines current projections of home and sheltering - taking into consideration pandemic attacks, rampant social and financial inequalities and natural disasters. In recent history, subterranean shelters were considered a quaint, even paranoid addendum to the mid-century modern home. Given isolation protocols, climate crisis events, pandemic hoarding, and the ever-present COVID variants, the survival bunker as crisis heterotopia is once again a culturally significant symbol.
A Closed System 02
mixed media drawing/collage using copperplate etchings on kitakata tissue, mounted on St. Armand cotton rag paper (56 x 76 cm)
A Closed System 01
mixed media drawing/collage using copperplate etchings on kitakata tissue, mounted on St. Armand cotton rag paper (56 x 76 cm)
A Closed System 04
mixed media drawing/collage using copperplate etchings on kitakata tissue, mounted on St. Armand cotton rag paper (56 x 76 cm)
A Closed System 05
mixed media drawing/collage using copperplate etchings on kitakata tissue, mounted on St. Armand cotton rag paper (56 x 76 cm)
Series installed for documentation, photo by Byron Dauncey.
Research + Development
Developed over a series of several years, the Closed System series began in Montréal, while in residence with Concordia University. I silkscreened tissues and cotton rag papers with gesso shelter silhouettes, then dip dyed the papers with ink. The printed papers served as a starting place for drawing and collage work, many of which where layered with copper plate etching proofs from my undergrad studio work. The use of this wide variety of material and processes has allowed the works to carry a feeling of excavation - where the shelters are emerging from layers of printed matter and drawing material.