Portfolios > Beta Male

The drawings contained in the Beta Male project were conceived and developed from an organic set of actions. Building off of, and responding to, a decade’s worth of exploration into self-portraiture, the work is a distillation down to potraiture’s essential visual components. Images of my face are tightly cropped, and limited to fundamentally the same position, with minor variations, in order to exhaust the possibilities of a prescribed, rigid concept. There exists an absurd quality and awkwardness in the pieces as I stare directly out at the viewer creating tension and a forced engagement.
The pieces operate as a counter to my work in printmaking. Familiar materials and techniques are adopted to create something fresh and new. The immediacy and directness of drawing operated in tandem with the modest scale to encourage production. The drawings returned my studio practice to a point of simplicity: pencil, paper, and representation.

Whathaveyou
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2014
Bland
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2014
A Shallow Imprint
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Whisper
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Lumbar Roll
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
The Death of Fun
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
I Never Thought It Would Come To This
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Baphomet
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Surface Tension
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Hashtag
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
The Long Con
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Unrequited
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Deadtown Nothing
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Fontanelle
pencil, charcoal, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Painting Holiday Vs. Printmaking Routine
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Starbird Road
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Joe/Car
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Citizenihilist
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Redux
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013
Gin-Soaked Olive
pencil, graphite powder on paper
30" x 22"
2013