Sam Glen
Blaxland High School
MOLECULAR HARNESS
Drawing
Technical Pen and Fountain Pen
My body of work is intended to be a stylised glimpse into the human subconscious. Each drawing is a representation of thought.
My artmaking practice has been influenced by the study and interpretation of the following artists and works: Dorothea Tanning, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik; Silke Schatz; Zdzisław Beksiński; Junji Ito; Peter Deligdisch; Roland Flexner; Käthe Kollwitz; Giorgio de Chirico; Egon Schiele; Joan Miró; Lucian Freud; Leonora Carrington; Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory; Pablo Picasso; Francis Bacon, Three Studies for a Crucifixion; James Gleeson; David Choe; Andrey Khrzhanovsky and Maria Neyman (dirs), The Glass Harmonica; Rodel Tapaya, The promise land: the moon, the sun, the stars.
Marker's Commentary
This highly resolved and engaging series of drawings demonstrates expertly controlled, stylised and intuitive drawing practice. This is a visually and conceptually rich work that intrigues and engages the viewer immediately. Fountain and technical pens are used to execute imaginative imagery through complex compositions that investigate psychological states of being. Creatures, portraits and objects are overlapped, distorted and melded together to create multifaceted and at times disturbing imagery, reflecting the subconscious mind. Conceptually the work knowingly plays with audience visual perceptions and makes references to familiar images from our memory. Cross-hatched line is used to define shapes, provide shading and direct the eye around the surface of the images in a sophisticated manner. Each panel works as a stand-alone piece, while also working as a set that unfolds in a journey of discovery. A deep engagement with past is embedded through imagery that is subtly integrated and woven into the compositions by the continuous lines and circularity of the journey.