Archive for August, 2009
ALL THE NEWS UNFIT TO PRINT / 1st edition
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009Artist paints self-portrait of alter ego painting self-portrait of artist
Lawnmower quits, goes green
Fishnet stockings catch walleye
For sale: glass house (fixer upper)
Safety commission issues boomerang recall
Comedian needles thread
Elephant turns up nose at memory book
Mr. Potato Head wins Idaho gubernatorial race
Literary news: Three little pigs get swine flu shots
Archives: Buddha’s liposuction canceled
And the Good News Award goes to: 1st edition found underneath it all
Capturing complexity
Monday, August 17th, 2009Even the Random House Dictionary of the English Language seems to be vague about it:
en·er·gy 7. Physics. the capacity to do work; the property of a system which diminishes when the system does work on any other system, by an amount equal to the work so done; potential energy.
How do you illustrate something so undefinable as energy?
You can use the concrete and the cliche. An electrical outlet, for example. Or solar panels, or a hydro-plant, or an oil field, wind turbines, or …
But energy is so vast and open that these solutions seem limiting and trite. How do you capture complexity in visual terms? Think of other complexities, such as government, love, religion. These types of depictions are challenging to the illustrator, and to be unique and captivating one must pursue a range of solutions. How have they been conveyed symbolically in art and literature? The Great Sphinx, for example, has served as an emblem of mystery. The heart (now an overused cliche) has symbolized love, health, sacrifice. In the Book of Revelation a ten-headed beast symbolizes a multi-national government alliance.
Here is one solution, which is a piece I did for an illustration workshop: energy personified, running the treadmill earth, as both a renewable and an expendable resource. I also wanted to convey its timelessness—the past, present, and future of energy.
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acrylic on rag board