Generation X

Jurors Statement:

“The mind can neither live nor die without its physical counterpart, the senses.” (Edward H. Davidson, Poe: A Critical Study, “The Fall of the House of Usher”) Christopher Anderson’s The Fall is a clear attempt at representing Edgar Allen Poe’s literary classic. It is however esoteric; one would have to be intimately aware of the details in the story to read this image. A stately ‘mansion’ is situated in the lower left corner of this composite photograph representing the House of Usher. A tree outside of the frame casts a shadow upon the house implying a ubiquitous sense of foreboding. The first of two moons rests just behind the roof of the house. Tinged red, it merely hints at the ‘insufferable gloom’ that will befall Poe’s characters; Roderick and Madeline. A second larger blood red moon dominates the foreground in the top left corner of the frame. It has insanguinated spirit from the occupants of the House of Usher. The blush of the face and persistent smile on the lips of the statuary on the right speaks of the unconscious life that Madeline possesses as she is entombed alive! Alternatively, a scarcely visible human brain just behind the face alludes to the insanity of Roderick. Finally Anderson uses a wall (stones with consciousness) as Poe did to represent the fissure in unity; dialectic if you will. Christopher Anderson uses literature in this instance for inspiration; the resultant image is “bathed in a ghastly splendor.” ~Donna German

Expectations and disappointments are a part of everyday life. The combination of these two things is an experience that every person has encountered at some point. It can happen on any scale. It might be a low expectation and small disappointment that results in a minor discomfort. It could also be such a high expectation and such a large disappointment that it feels as if nothing could fill the gaping hole inside. It is this discomfort and let down I aim to recreate in my work. In some way, I want the viewer to have an expectation that is not realized in the piece, and this should cause discomfort. I also hope to induce confusion resulting from the attempt to reconcile all that has happened. I want the viewer to momentarily panic. This allows the viewer to take a few moments to re-collect themselves to better accept things outside their comfort zone. By starting with this fresh state of mind, it is much easier for the viewer and the piece to come to an understanding with one another. This of course is the ultimate goal, the reconciliation of the viewer with the piece. The pieces involve the imagination and observation. The observation of the piece reveals the difference between the two images. The pieces begin to take on a life of their own while the viewer contemplates all the parts of the whole. The pieces are each roughly based on a work of Edgar Allan Poe.They are an allusion to the events contained within. The text began as inspiration for the pieces and became something more. It became their souls. In this, the pieces grew into what you see before you.

Much of my artistic life has been one of apprenticeship. I worked for many years absorbing the ideas and touches of artists like Arshile Gorky, Vija Celmins, Philip Guston and others. In my search for more sincere work, I began to paint the covers of artists%92 books. Each book was splayed open, cover upwards, and the flatness of the position echoed the two dimensional surface of the original painting on the cover. My book cover series explored the act of painting as I referenced artists from Vermeer to Agnes Martin to Alice Neel and many in between. I wanted to unify the history of painting, to show the commonality of all the styles, like the unbroken chain of art history that Gorky spoke of. All the while, I was immersed in constant dialogue with Walter Benjamin, as painting the covers became the spiritual process of injecting the aura back into them after the effects of mechanical reproduction. I exhibited the work like Judy Chicago%92s Dinner Party, as the artists%92 books were rhythmically lined around the gallery like her sonorous placement settings. Also like The Dinner Party, I emphasized the sexuality of the open book as well as the contributions made by these artists.

I started painting about four years ago. At the beginning the art became my balance but since that time developed itself to an important part of my life. Now I started studying fine arts at the Academy of Faber Castell to understand what my intuition is telling. I'm searching for the right method to put my feelings and my sights of the world I'm living in in colour and form to hopefully arrive the viewers heard. Filled up with inspiration the journey is my reward.

My artistic goal is to bridge the gap between the temporal and the ethereal realms by interpreting visually what can only be characterized as an intuitive rhythm. The immaterial is the conduit with which I intend to evoke a deep introspective posture that is sometimes elusive within the constraints of modern society. My purpose is a singular encounter with each composition.

In the pursuit of artistic mastery, the realization of one’s own contribution to the celebration of life, these paintings are a collage framed in intellectual and emotional interpretations of experiences transfigured through physical gestation, manifesting in contrast and composition. Drawings are a personal exercise to master the tonal undulations of light cascading over recognizable volumes of space, capturing an individual moment in time by means of the most simplistic of mediums; pencil and paper.

The essence of the human soul has become the purpose of my search. Through the depth of color, I feel like I am physically touching the emotions of the inner self of the subjects that catch my attention. It is a journey into the ‘Being’ that challenges my curiosity but, over all my need of fulfillment. The universality of the human being thinking, its gestures and its expressions, are the foundations on which my work develops itself. I find myself on contemplating even the most apparently “aseptic” situation and every time an inner feeling comes out of it, I recognize it only at the end of the art work performance. I accept to follow my instinct, so then, if I really have to, I can understand its meaning.

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