Jack Dillhunt |
Streams of Consciousness |
Streams of Consciousness Confided to Cloth: An Artists Statement I began drawing on fabric some 30 years ago. At that time I was a 15-year-old kid who was faced with a dilemma--how does one produce a wall size drawing, given the limitations of paper? The answer seemed obvious--draw on bed sheets. At fifteen I also became familiar with drugs and alcohol--an addiction that would prove to be an unrelenting battle for the next 12 years. Escape from reality was my goal in these desperate years. After twenty years of continuous sobriety I find that the escape experience--described below--that I derive from the creative experience is greater and much more profound than any experience I've had with drugs and alcohol. If one of my pictures allows the viewer a momentary escape from the recent tragedies of world events or some small distraction from some personal pain or struggle then I can know that I've succeeded wonderfully. At that time--and for years to come--all my drawings were large and intricate. The primary intent of my work--was and is--to produce imagery that would facilitate some sort of escape experience for the viewer. For I believe that healthy escape outlets are needed more than ever today. In the past I had often struggled to find an appropriate label to describe my work for although I have a college art degree--essentially, I am self-taught in my medium. In college I was mostly left to find my own way with my eccentric medium. However, even though I did not start college till I was in my thirties--I must say that my college experience did affect my work. And the contradictions continue. For example, although much of my work is purely abstract, that is--totally non-representational--sometimes reality impinges on this non-real world--often times quite by accident. People are always telling me what they "see" in my totally abstract drawings. And although it didn't occur to me at 15, it seems quite obvious to me now, that it is impossible to create something that is totally unreal I'd like to briefly describe my working methods. Usually when I'm doing studio work I listen to the headphones to my favorite music while I focus intently on the work in progress. The music helps me shut off outside thoughts while the complete focus on the imagery produces a sort of meditative state. My art is--more than anything else--a series of these streams of consciousness. Therefore INTUITIVE is the label that suits my work best. The viewer is welcome to interpret my work as he or she pleases--there is no one correct interpretation. This is why many of my works are titled undesignated image 1,2,3, etc. I choose--so far--not to make use of the untitled label because I think that the viewer may think that there is some abstract puzzle to figure out. There isn't. When I have a particular theme in mind I always indicate the nature of this theme in the title. In summary, my ballpoint on fabric drawings can best be described as, Streams of Consciousness Confided to Cloth. Jack Dillhunt March 29, 2002 |
