Artist Statement and Bio

Artist Statement: 

In this work, I wanted to create pieces that were outside of my comfort zone. I am used to the clean lines and justified text that comes with being a graphic artist. In these colleges, I wanted to break those rules that I am usually confined by. I did this in two ways, by making the final piece not rectangular and by choosing college as my medium. Both of these things allowed me to not make the pieces perfect and neat but rather a more free-flowing artistic expression. The four silhouettes within the series are portraits of RuPaul, Alexander Mcqueen, Keith Haring, and Lady Gaga. All four are artists that I look up to for various different aspects of their practice. I then created the college through the lens that I see the artists, my interpretation of their work, and how it has affected me. The process of college was extremely fulfilling for me; as I worked with mostly found materials. This tactic put a constraint on my work that made me problem solve and get more creative about how I would express my thoughts.

In the profile of Alexander Mcqueen, I tried to incorporate religious imagery as a reference to some of my favorite collections by the designer. In addition, I used pieces that he ha designed to add texture to the background of the work. I had a similar approach to the Lady Gaga profile which I wanted to have aspects of glamour and the body.

In the piece the depicts Keith Haring, I used a pattern in a free form way. I think while not completely depicting what the artist created, I tried to emulate the way in which he used uncalculating pattern in much of his work.

Artist Bio:

Jackson Gathard was born in San Francisco, California. His early work as a photographer has influenced the graphic nature of his design, drawing and multimedia pieces. He is currently studying at Chapman University where he is exploring different mediums of expression and is training formally as a graphic artist.