Project President
- Jul 9, 2017
- 2 min read
The formal response: Project President is a series of painting paper cut-outs. Each piece portrays a separate president using acrylic paint, paper, and a combination of negative and positive space. The paintings transform from abstract designs to geometric recognizable figures. The ramification of lines and deliberate pairings of layers are based on juxtaposition of colors and occasionally content. Project President is a playful interplay between solid and void spaces that delicately create a visual performance. Project President is a labor of love. While little technology is dependent for this series, the physical impact of cutting each line is extensive; however, the manual actions take you back to a time where tools were found in a box and not on a computer.
Informal: Project President started a little over a year ago and has continued to grow along with the new administration. Donald Trump along with an additional two more, James Polk and William McKinley are making their way into the collection.
I enjoy that this has become an ongoing project. At the start, my intentions were not to complete all 44 (at the time) presidents but I’m not opposed to it. My intentions were to examine the familiarity of the United States presidency with its citizens. When asked how many presidents can you name, the average was 14-18. Despite my love for American History I too was only able to name 19 at the time. There is something about the celebrity status of a president that I found interesting. Since the project had begun our country has voted in a new guy. (Just as Whoopi Goldberg calls him since she refrains from saying his actual name) The humorously enough, 45th President is a celebrity.
The painting cut outs are 2-4 layered colorful pieces. Each one depicting the profile of a single president. I find it fun to watch others guess who is who; however, it's god damn challenging for myself to remember. While some profiles are easy to register, others are simply tough because they are all old men.
Project President can be divided into two separate portions. Currently I have 14 11"x 14" 2-4 layered pieces. The four remaining are 16"x 20" two layered pieces. The larger four are different in size and design. They each include a drawing behind them that hints at their presidency, their personal history or a visual that I place along with the name. Former President Obama has a drawing of his younger self smoking marijuana behind his president portrait a nod to the past. I drew Lincoln's cabin behind his portrait. It's all by association.
The best part about the series is having the freedom to interchange the layers. This means I can forever change the layers/colors/designs of how I present each work. President Clinton could be placed over top Monroe's second layer, vice versa. Or if I wanted to I could place one President over another. This series is completely playful and I find it mesmerizing.
Project President is currently showing at Calm Waters Coffee Roasters until the end of July and will be back up as a complete set at Converge Gallery in December 2017.
Cheers to the President's, Next month will be all about my trip to Bali. All art posted on my Instagram will be from Bali!
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