drawing – Page 2 – Kip Deeds: Art and Design

Roadside Attractions

Posted on November 28, 2020 by Kip Deeds

The drawing below was an accident. It was made at a time in the night when fatigue overtakes the body and mind. What started as a drawing of a walnut began to look like something else. Later a background was created and a note about a 2:30pm appointment was retained. This experience of happy or curious accidents building upon each other reminded me of travels where curious monuments and markers appear. While I might forget most of the details of a trip, I would not forget a strange door that leads directly into a mountain.

After walking around the village in Poland, where I live, I could spot a few examples of unusual landmarks. The first image, while not very peculiar in Poland, looked strange to me. It is a man-made nest for Storks. This is part of a strategy in Europe to protect the species.

The second image, seen below, appears to be an abandoned swimming pool. Because of age (likely built during communism) and disrepair, a range of color is revealed. However, I can’t help but wonder what it was like when it was in perfect working order.

With much planning for a sense of sublime order, we ought to feel grateful for the oddities we find. Without such contrasts we might be stuck in a sublime sense of sameness (i.e. happiness in a world of perceived order). However, this mindset remains an illusion.

Driven to Distraction

Posted on April 1, 2020 by Kip Deeds

Because I lack expert knowledge about pandemics, like the one the world is currently faceing, I felt it more useful to write about something else. Perhaps metaphors could be found here. However, my main intent is examine and reconcile competing demands.

As I have been focused on fatherhood and a new job, my artistic output has dwindled. In fact, I thought I was facing an artistic death. This would be a minor tragedy in relationship to a literal death. Additionally, while pre-occupied with more basic responsibilities, travel has seemed more of a luxury. I am currently living in Warsaw Poland, and one of my more modest goals is to visit the city of Zamość. It is described as an ‘ideal example of a Renaissance town’.

For now any travel has been postponed. However, after mentioning my desire to spend a day in Zamosc, I was gifted a book about Italian Renaissance architecture (the Renaisance represented a rebirth). I started making drawings inspired by this architecture. So far, all that I could complete was an image of a doorway.

While creating an image of this door is a start, I imagine being at this threshold viewing a city. It is my hope to eventually see Zamość and perhaps more drawings will emerge after revisiting the Renaissance.

Unexpected Awe

Posted on November 16, 2019 by Kip Deeds

Advances in travel and comunication may make the world seem small. However, every once in a while one is in awe of a place larger than one could imagine. I had this experience as a child when I saw the swimming pool at the Flanders Hotel in Ocean City, New Jersey. The pool was so impressive that I found it both facinating and a bit frightening. In my child’s mind I thought, who would build their own ocean and how could someone get to the middle without drowning.

It was hard to imagine being struck by such a similar feeling as an adult. However, while on a train from the Polish city of Gdańsk to the town of Sopot, I saw building larger than my conception could accept. I later read online that such a building may have up to 6000 people living it. To be living in the middle of it seems simultaneously intruiging and overwhelming.

Image of the building found on google maps.

Along with the fleeting feeling of being impressed by the enormity of the building, there was an experience of being on a train and on a trip to the sea. I created a drawing in an attempt to document this memory. In the drawing below the autumn day, the building, and the journey to sea become locked together.

*En route to Sopot*, Watercolor & Ink, 41cm x 13cm (15″ x 5″)

It is easy to realize that the two places described, the pool and the building, are small compared to oceans, planets, and the wider universe. However, size is relational and our thoughts are expansive. With reflection the cracks and corners of our existance may yield wider vistas. Description and a creative perspective provides ways to unfold an endless stream of details and reinvent a sense of wonder.

Room For Let

Posted on March 27, 2019 by Kip Deeds

The drawing/painting below was started from a scrap of paper found in a puddle on the way to work. The paper appearing at the top of the drawing was a hand written solicitation that became unreadable. I imagined it being about a lost cat or a room for rent. Using the cut marks on this paper, lines were extended and a new territory was added. Within the larger image, a view of interior and exterior space gets combined. Occupants of the building appear and for certain there is at least ‘one room for let’.

*Room For Le*t, Media: Watercolor, ink, and, collage, Size: 16″ x 7 1/4″

Elsewhere, in the detail of the drawing, one sees signs of activity and life on the balcony. Personality almost gets lost when quickly viewing window after window on a tenement building. However, on closer inspection, ultimately a more idiosyncratic identity emerges.

The Undercurrent

Posted on February 13, 2017 by Kip Deeds

I recently wrote notes regarding what I thought qualified as meaningful art. I quickly became lost in contradictions. Craft and construction are unavoidable with regard to making art. However, quality craftsmanship does not necessarily guarantee successful art. For example, fastidiousness can bring attention and value but it can also obscure a message or expressive exploration. Success can inevitably be connected to a counter balancing perspective. A key problem I felt was determining what gave artwork its authority (i.e. what made it relevant). Prior to photography artists were closer related to artisans and had more clearly defined roles. In the digital age we are awash in imagery, and for this reason it may be harder to gauge lasting relevance.

Considering monetary value or where art housed does not identify its complete importance and arrives short of its essence. This central issue seems to require a study of cultural undercurrents. Underneath implicit technical or conceptual intent are hidden messages. Some of these messages may occur by chance and reveal more about our desires and true feelings. We detect covert information by the way it transcends proprieties (e.g. branding does this with clear visual markers of status) aimed at bringing about certifiably acceptable results. When we find art we lose ourselves of the gallery, the artist, the price tag, and acknowledge the message.

I would encourage others (myself included) to consider more deeply the concept of “living off the grid”. Extreme examples may not be possible for most people. However, there are degrees in which we can test our independence (i.e. living somewhat off the grid). When realizing our potential we are gaining the best tools to understand humanity and art is a reflection of our humanity. Insight can be gained from fixing broken products, planting trees and vegetables, writing creative letters, cooking from scratch, among other activities. Along side manually problem solving, mining for revelation is critical (i.e. a higher or alternative plane of thinking). This is not a prescription to master life, rather an effort to be deprogrammed. Inquisitiveness is a foundation. If one chooses to paint, sculpt, write, or make music in a creative way, then art may be found in the undercurrent of events.