UNTITLED MARKS SERIES

To create these works, I used 9B graphite pencil, graphite powder, and eraser on paper. Through the process of covering each surface, I explored hard and soft marks as well as the marks of removal. I looked to examine materials, while leaving evidence of intense labor. My intentions were to emote through my mark making so that the final result may project an aura of what I am feeling.
The parameters I set for myself when beginning these pieces were that I cover the entire paper surface, that I make my marks when I’m feeling a particular emotion, ie. frustration, and that I try to capture the emotion with a sense of immediacy. However, as the work developed, the ideas that motivated the creation changed. Something that began as an attempt to emote frustration via mark making turned into a labor of love. I could not suddenly decide to be frustrated. This only led me to a different kind of frustration–a frustration of not being able to be frustrated. But I had already committed. I needed to finish covering the paper with my marks, so I continued. The residue of each mark remains on the floor, emulating my own studio and documenting my movement throughout the space, as well as the movement of my viewers. The room at large became an index of my performance; I have left for only a moment and I will return to continue working soon.