The initial imagery begins with an action performed by all human beings on average 30,000 times a day, the inhale and exhale of air through the lungs. I record these movements in my drawings. As I exhale onto a drop of ink the force of air creates a graphic shape that is then transferred to paper. A single breath is used to create a form with distinct dimensions. Sometimes this record of activity is influenced by an exterior factor. A tremor becomes visible in the delineation of ink as wind sifts through an open window. Traffic and other disturbances on the street also cause slight vibrations and result in undulating forms. Additionally, momentary distractions from technological devices sometimes pauses the activity, changing the flow of forms as they are created. My process involves engineering interactions between water, air, and ink, as well as, between my body and the paper. Occasionally I introduce other materials connected to the systems of human anatomy. I use salt or the oil from my fingertips to create vistas on paper that are altered through secondary additions of color. I draw on these forms spontaneously and rely on the stimuli of my environment to dictate the unfolding process. Often the end result fluctuates between micro and macro views that suggest cellular forms and celestial bodies. The drawings function as method of contemplation, research, and exploration. They become an archive of the ephemeral, and an altar to the automatic.

Other projects have included attempts to explore the allure of individual vices, the fallible nature of memory, and the necessity of reimagining personal narratives. For each project I create a process just as other artists create imagery. One theme is constant, the body and by extension the circumstances that define the human condition. Political, social, and ecological experiences are absorbed and filtered through the body and mind resulting in idiosyncratic behaviors. I record and study these habitual responses. I share painter Roberto Matta’s belief that “Art is to see” and its function is “ to unveil the enormous economic, cultural, [social] and emotional forces that materially interact in our lives and that constitute the real space where we live.”

Emily A. Gibson

Emily A. Gibson