Accomplice May 2-31, 2008
Carl Cowden III
Carl Cowden III, "Infra Green Eclipse", screenprint, 2008.
I have been working toward blending my styles and techniques into expressive images that evolve from the imagination and flow through my hand. The imagination that I describe is everything I know, think, and feel which I forge into a personal mythology. My art is a picture into the dimension of that imagination. Playing with a raw piece of art or found material describes how I begin the process. Creating forms and images by impulse and blind feelings as an abstract view of things, automatically allows them to dictate their own inner impulses rather than a preconceived subject. Only later I discover elements of representation that are developed further, intentionally allowing for a sense of color and form that is pleasing if not exciting. By incorporating techniques of commercial art and literary imagery into my work, elements of popular and high culture are blended. Erasing the boundaries between the two a meeting ground is provided where artist and laymen come together. From abstract environments and fabric textures hints of character or scene develop within which shapes and/or patterns are accented thereby defining the characters, thus creating a narrative. The characters and stories of my mythology are harvested from the personal experiences of my life. The organic nature of this process has catalyzed me to evolve into using three-dimensional elements in my work as well as re-exploring my roots in sculpture.
