Artist Statement:
The human memory is limited in more ways than most people think! As a species we cannot clearly recall on any given memory. Instead, we end up using small neurological connections that to help us reference specific moments and events in our lives. This explains why people feel that they remember events that actually never took place, or that "something is on the tip of their tongue" but end up struggling to remember anything about it. This is even more prevalent in regards to remembering people's faces. Most of the time it is extremely difficult to recall the exact shapes and features on the faces of people dearest to us. I started exploring this idea in some collage projects earlier this year in which I drew the same face from memory several times. Each of these freshly drawn characters had a feature or aspect about them that looked a lot like the person I was thinking of. Combined, they truly did represent the person I intended to draw. My ability to capture personality in my portraitures of others was helpful because it united the characters I had drawn into a cohesive group.
I have expanded on this idea in my final project "Forget-Me-Not!"
By carefully selecting friends and family with distinct features and appearances, I built a small army of characters that represented my memories of the people themselves. After looking quickly at a photograph, drawing images from pure memory allowed me to show the many expressions each of the people make. While each cup is designed to emulate the persona of the individual drawn, I intentionally did not draw them in a hyper-realistic way. I let the cartoonish aspects of their features overtake the cup, and did not to let potential facial inaccuracies interfere with my drawing style.
Creating these people on cups instead of on paper allows for one to see how the same character could be in conversation with itself and viewers all at once. Some characters on the cups gaze across at each other, while others stare right at the viewer who is standing before them. Since each cup is suspended from the ceiling, the viewer is able to walk around each cup, checking out each of the person's expressions. Having these characters drawn onto a dimensional surface allows the objects to have more presence in the space they are presented in, as a real human would! The viewer can treat the cups more like they would the individuals, walking up to them and studying their expressions as objects in space rather than as figures drawn on paper.
Artist Bio:
Izzie Panasci was born in San Francisco, California in 1997. She is currently an undergrad at Chapman University where she is majoring in animation and minoring in art and anthropology. The majority of her work reflects her interest in the micro expressions of those around her, and is accomplished through a manic-like attention to detail. She tends to focus on capturing the personality of her subjects, and has developed a very individual style through the use of precise line work. After graduating she hopes to create animation films that tell ethnographic tales about different communities and groups of people.
How the following artists and pieces inspired me:
robert crumb
Robert's work is inspiring because it is as manic and detailed as I strive to be in my work. I appreciate the small scale in which he chooses to illustrate because it makes it possible to actually accomplish the envisioned details. Whether he is stippling or just drawing perfectly straight lines, his comical portrayal of people communicates a lot about personality, humor, and identity.
aline crumb
Aline, Crumb's wife, loosens up her grip on the pen which I can also appreciate. Creating more fictitious representations of people and their mentalities, she has created a style that focuses on line work and facial expressions. I like how simple she can keep each character yet maintain a stylistic attention to detail in the overall image.
ray pettibon
Ray's work embodies the beauty of light-handed line work. I am inspired by his "knowing when to stop" a common issue for me in my work. His simple messages and drawings make his underlying messages like "fuck housework" more dominant in the message of his pieces.
Julie Doucet
Julie Doucet has a style that I would like to feed off more- it has a refined sense of looking both comical and realistic all at once. Her detailed scenes and portraitures show me new ways of using line work to create depth and capture light. I think a lot of my cups have drawn inspiration from her (and my own) oversized eyeballs look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-vs5hZu744
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