We even made the local paper!

Read below for most of the text appearing on the poster (designed by Steve SImorka – thanks Steve!):

Get our your coffee! Local artists, art enthusiasts, and/or comic book lovers who want to test their creativity

and push their artistic limits are invited to this years 12-Hour Comic Event sponsored by the Student Art

Association of East Stroudsburg University. The day of extreme cartooning allows 12 straight hours for

amateur and professional cartoonists of any age to challenge themselves to write, draw, and letter an entire

12-page comic story in 12 hours (one page per hour).

Creating comic art can be lonely work; the 12-Hour Comic Event provides an opportunity to stretch creative

muscles and get invigorated by working alongside (or with) a group of fellow artists.

The event is all about sharing the love of comic book creation, and it draws in young and old, experienced and

novice. Don’t let lack of experience or materials keep you away — previous participants have been as young

as 7 and as old as 97!

“This too is a requirement of art today. We need to give the spectator more room to penetrate into the work itself, and works which allow this are called ‘open’. It is a form of art that adapts itself to the artistic sense of the beholder. In times past people wanted the artist to explain in very clear terms exactly how he saw the world in every detail. The beholder was content to react to the personality of the artist, who in everyone’s eyes became a genius, the greatest, the one whom nobody could imitate. Today the person who looks at the work of art is more sensitive, more accustomed to simultaneous and intense stimuli, to brand new technical and scientific concepts, so he is no longer so interested in a ‘closed’ work of art. Art that is too defined, conclusive, and limited to one aspect of a thing, leaves a man of today standing isolated and apart: either he accepts the fait accompli or he gets nothing from it. There is very little actual participation involved. Everything that does not coincide with the particular vision of the artist has to be excluded. But in an open work of art a person participates much more, to the extent of being able to change the work of art according to his state of mind.”

The universe is in a constant state of flux. Nothing is static. Everything is moving, changing and transforming; from the tiniest quark to the largest supercluster. The universe exists out of the seamless interrelationships between all of these varied, complex parts. This interdependency is apparent when, upon close scrutiny, patterns begin to emerge. These patterns reveal a similarity and connection between the microcosmic and macrocosmic facets of the universe; an infinite, interdependent loop of space and time.

My current investigation into the inner-workings of the universe begins with a response to forms in nature. Currently, I am focusing on transformations of human forms. Somewhere between observation and imagination, my mutated human forms emerge as language; a language that is strengthened by the experiential quality of how each work is displayed. Created specifically with the viewer in mind, each installation establishes an aura of questioning that operates in both the physical and mental spaces between the viewer and the work.  The entire experience transcends the purely narrative and triggers associations of cosmological importance.

I am interested in what lies beyond human knowledge and the limitations of the human mind to acquire knowledge. My work pushes beyond established knowledge systems through a philosophically materialist integration of science, art, design, and western philosophy. Through a unification of image and installation I attempt to initiate a cerebral awareness of the concealed universe; the unknown, unexpected and unfathomed concepts of matter, space and time. I am interested in the viewer’s response based upon both their a priori knowledge and immediate observational experience. The imagery and installations I create are not meant to soothe or placate. Their purpose is to enhance the viewer’s recognition of material reality and what may logically exist in the unobservable spaces within and beyond it. I wish to inspire critical thinking and awareness. It is my intention to supersede any notion of style; forsaking any devotion to a single medium in order to comprehensively communicate my message.

In my current work, I am focusing on how to use my particular oeuvre to create a partially guided experience of intentionality for the viewer. By presenting a myriad of visual sense-datum I hope to inspire the observer to make a connection with the undetectable universe around them. The work will have the ability to be appreciated by those knowledgeable of contemporary art theory, advocates for current theories of the philosophy of mind, science proponents, as well as the casual observer.

I wish to engage the viewer with my intent, not declare it outright.

Sacred Geometry (Face 5) •  Graphite  •  31″ x 56″  •  2008

Here’s a list of the new additions (in alphabetical order):

Basil el Halwagy

Beth Shortt (check out her installations!)

Christine Wuenschel

Daniel Zweller

Doug Russell

Eric Penington

Greg Fuqua

Heide Trepanier

James Jean

Mars-1

Sara Schneckloth

Sol Kjok

The Art of Science

So, please, check some of these sites out. Leave a comment or two and let them know how you came across their work! I’m trying to start a system of open artistic dialogue and sharing of thoughts and ideas between artists that are either separated by distance or anonymity. I’ve been contacting some of these artists out-of-the-blue and have had great conversations that have both inspired me and made me question the work I make and why.

I am offering my artwork as a means (for the viewer) of transgressing (or escaping) any connotation to a belief in a spirit/soul/non-corporeal entity (ie. the most common definition of transcendentalism).