Thursday, August 03, 2006

Illustration Friday: Clean



Since I've been in New York, I really haven't had a chance to work on this particular theme. Too busy apartment hunting and without my own supplies. Imagine: a collage artist without a pair of scissors or a bottle of glue!

So this is new territory for me.

In dealing with this theme, I wanted to use iconographic images associated with being clean. I think in our culture today, we are surrounded constantly by logos and company branding. The Pop artists were influenced by this, but with our lives so interconnected to the Internet and the instant gratification it provides, it seem as though it's even more pertinent now than ever. I've tried to incorporated some of these images. I also wanted to give a sense of ritual and repetition. I attempted to convey that with the word, "clean" written in rote fashion. The other thing that I tried to show was that cleanliness is often times a subjective state. The idea of clean is a contrast to dirty. If there was no dirty, there would be no clean, and vice versa.

Without fail, there's always a speck of dust or a crumble that was missed.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the explanation with the image. Excellent intrepretation of the theme. Especially the repetition--it's all about the maintenance, it's never done!

carla said...

Interesting post! We certainly are inundated with products, most of which are designed to cover up, mask, eliminate, etc. our natural selves. I'm not saying that I'd prefer to go without my products, but it is really amazing how there's always somthing new to fix or clean things I've never even given a thought to! I like your photocollage...I love the sparkling bubbles all over the images of products, and I like the repetition of the word "clean." It makes your point, for sure. Good luck apartment hunting! Hope you find something grand and affordable!

Willie Baronet said...

Well done! Enjoy NY. :-)

claudine hellmuth said...

andrew
great illo!! No glue? no scissors?
amazing job!

Debbie said...

I love ths collage - and that you did it in black and white - lends very much to your explanation of your creative process and the need for dirty to be able to define clean! Love this post! Good luck with your apartment hunting!