Artist Statement / Bio

My final piece began by sketching / drawing out different elements of my own personal life onto smaller pieces of paper. I find the intimacy of sketch books to be paramount within my personal work, implementing this within the final piece was paramount. The actual drawings themselves draw upon contemporary elements within my life. The outlying drawing is a more cartoonish yet somewhat grotesque depiction of the main character of my thesis film, Taro. From observing first hand the struggles that many go through during their thesis project and the monolithic presence it will have in my life for the next year, I found it important to pay homage to him. Throughout the middle of the piece are illustrations of psychedelic origin, calling back to the journey or "trip" my life has taken in the past few years. I purposely placed the self portrait of myself behind other illustrations for many peers have recounted that I at first come off as standoffish or removed. I found it important that even though the depiction of myself is undoubtedly positive in nature, that said positivity and openness needs to be sought and won, not open for anyone to see. 

The physical execution with the crisscrossing layers and split drawings, allowing for this piece to be folded up entirely is inspired by a Goshuinchou, a Japanese stamp book. These are books that are used to collect stamps / calligraphy from temples within Japan and was a early childhood memory I have regarding said books. The memories of connecting with my grandmother / father through these small books and in turn with my heritage is a memory I hold dear. I sought to embody this element of myself subtly without blatantly and outright saying it.

Bio:

William Turmon was born in San Francisco California. After some soul searching and hopping between various schools, RISD, CCSF and finally Chapman, he has settled into majoring in animation with a minor in studio art. He mostly works within ballpoint pen, digital illustration and occasionally multimedia sculpting. He hopes to pursue a fine arts practice while simultaneously working within the animation industry as a lip-sync animator currently.