About This Series
The works in my Biomorphic series are an outgrowth of the experimental digital drawing techniques begun in my Wireframe works. However, the forms in these compositions are more organic and less overtly technological in their visual language.
Generally, the forms in my Biomorphic compositions start with gesture drawing, similar to the Wireframe works. However, these forms are rendered as solid objects, rather than wireframe visualizations.
These solid objects are then converted into contour drawings, similar to topographical maps. At this point, a variety of manual and mathematical transformations are applied to break these drawings up and to distort, twist and contort them in various ways.
I often pull these abstract forms apart and re-arrange them into compositions which begin to resemble organic forms such as plants, animals or even biomorphic architectural elements.
The forms are flattened and traced digitally using custom parameters inspired from the line qualities of Japanese woodcuts. I like to think that many of the works in this series are informed by the works of artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai.
The earliest works in this series were a series of small paintings which were my first experiments combining oil painting with digital overprinting.
I went on to develop a series of Biomorphic mixed-media works on birch panels; these employed a pigment-transfer technique in combination with hand-painting in gouache and acrylic paints. These works were finished with a high-gloss resin topcoat.
The development of this body of work was funded in part by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, and first exhibited in a solo exhibition entitled “Improbable Forms” at Art Sites Gallery in Riverhead NY in 2013.
During a month-long residency at The Studios of Key West in the summer of 2015, I created a series of Biomorphic works on paper which were composed digitally and executed completely by hand using rollerball pen and gouache.
A survey of works from this series was presented at a 2019 solo exhibition at the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vermont entitled East/West.
