MONSTER COMICS ANALYISIS 2002 PAGE 2
AMBIDEXTROUS ARTWORKSAll of the MONSTER ink drawings were created with my left hand. This process was determined in order to free my expressions from the standard and regimented techniques I had become so accustomed to throughout the development of “HEY APATHY! & THE APOCALYPSE”. If the new artworks were going to express a language beyond rational comprehension, it would be integral to dissect my hand from it’s conscious dictator. These early ambidextrous studies combined free thought association and interpretive pen strokes, accomplishing features that I could not reproduce with my trained hand. The practice of ambidextrous drawing would continue to play an important role in many of my artworks. I have used ambidextrous illustrations many times over both intentionally and otherwise( twice I have broken my right hand!). As a full time professional street performer, I became skilled enough in the practice to create my large scale performance paintings utilizing both appendages.
SPEED DRAWINGSpeed drawing is a common technique used by artists, often through quick, gesture life studies or in endless piles sketchbook ideations. The general purpose of such a process is to capture images intuitively rather than consciously. Often nuances which would escape the mathematical observer can be captured through the frenzied exploration of rapid studies. The MONSTER drawings are symbolic of just that, the intuitive moments in between analysis, moments that communicate a notion of life larger than words. In combination with the use of my left hand, I also practiced drawing sporadically in one-minute intervals, limiting the studies to instantaneous expressions.
MANY MANY MONSTERSIn order to maintain (or lose) concentration I would create the monster drawings in series of approx. 30 fast studies. Through persistent exploration and unconscious vigour, I was able to draw portraits unlike those created with forethought. I was fortunate enough to receive a large donation of acid-free off cuts from a matting company and was therefore able to attack the boards at a furious pace, without fear of running out of paper or wasting energy on non-archival materials. There were probably about two hundred smaller works scribed through out this investigation. As an installation artist, I tend to think of the entire body of work as a singular invention, in which the mini-multiples are simply the building blocks of the whole.
THE DRAWING ASSOCIATION TEST
In opposition to both the externalized perspective and the technical craftsmanship of the first series, I developed a second particular artistic process involving an ambidextrous drawing association technique designed to enhance the artistic capability to breach routine. For each experiment, I took a brief meditative walk through the city, then chose a quit setting, set a 60 minute time limit, and proceeded to create a large number of left-handed psychic portraits at a furious pace. This process permitted accidental and experimental expressions to formulate free from precision and personal critique.
DEVELOPING A LANGUAGE
Through the artistic endeavour of the “drawing association test” a new vocabulary immersed. The “MONSTERS” began to express the duality of man, the nature of emotions, and the capacity of universal understanding. These new communicative creatures pierce the illusion of conformity expressed in the earlier illustrations (“HEY APATHY! & THE APOCALYPSE”), and intercept the telepathic dialogues behind the faceless bubble-people. The freedom and inhibition of the ambidextrous practice proved successful at unearthing hidden patterns. The MONSTER drawings call us forth into an intricate and invisible web of socialization.
LARGE ARTWORKSThe smaller monster drawing association tests were completed between Jan-Feb. 2002, and included approximately 200 small ink scribbles. Following these studies I proceeded to make three life size “Monkey-Monsters” as well as two giant wall murals. The large drawings were created on 10 ft. X 18ft. Stonehenge paper using the same ambidextrous techniques as the smaller predecessors.These giant artworks were my first to be created in a single sitting at such a proportion. I consider them to be precursors to my street performance artworks, which although far more detailed, were also drawn with similar techniques. Realizing that I could create such images at an incredible pace, I went out to the sidewalk with some tempera paint and practiced a few giant murals on the ground in front of the Ontario College of Art & Design. I remember this being quite amusing as the security guard would ALWAYS come running after me in a state of near cardiac arrest, and I would ALWAYS explain to him that my paint was washable. We eventually became friends, as did I with several of the neighbourhood children, who frequently got excited to watch and play on the large drawings.
ANIMATIONSFive short animated loops revolving around Monster drawings were created between Feb- March of 2002. The animated sequences feature monkey-like creatures playfully eating flies, groaning, yawning, and performing self inflicted surrealist surgical procedures.The most interesting aspect in the cartoons is the technical use of multiple loops within each short sequence. The endlessly repetitive creatures were made up of numerous smaller cycles, each particular to the animated character, and all of which rotate independently of each other. The culmination of such a simple process led to an oddly unique and organic, yet reasonably easy to produce, style for the loops. This technique would later be exemplified in the detailed production of the “HARD RAIN” flip book/cartoon. 
EXHIBITIONS and INSTALLATIONSThe “MONSTER” drawings were first exhibited at A.W.O.L Art Strikes Back Show in July 2002. This exhibition took place in protest of a Toronto Garbage Strike cancelling Toronto's annual outdoor exhibition, and was held in a large abandoned warehouse space. The A.W.O.L. warehouse was huge and I was able to display two of my oversized ink-murals. The MONSTERS where showed again, in various degrees, at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and at the Distillery District in Sept. 2002. A full-size installation of the ink stains was presented at the XPACE Gallery, Kensington Market, 2004. This major installation included approximately 150 of the small test scribbles, all 3 of the life sized images, the animated loops, and both of the giant wall murals.
MONSTER COMICS 2002 STATEMENTS PAGE 3
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