Criminal System #1
This was one of the first drawings I completed that aligned with what I think of as “narrative art.” There are a few elements here that I carried across multiple drawings during that period.
By narrative art, I mean figurative work that suggests a story without being directly tied to a photograph. The ambiguity for me is essential. I want the viewer to encounter a scene with no clear sense of what came before, and to be curious about what might come next.
That idea comes from watching films on television, where you might miss the beginning or the end. When that happened, the film stayed with me longer. I would spend time filling in the missing structure myself and is something I’m trying to replicate in these images.
It was also important not to rely too heavily on photographic reference. I had spent time working in photorealism and eventually found I had a visceral negative reaction to the approach. I still use images as a loose reference, but I’m more interested in building something that feels constructed rather than sourced.
Over a year or two, I made several drawings centered loosely around crime. I was drawn to the tension and implied violence, though now I think that same unease can be achieved more effectively through restraint.
When I finished this piece, it marked a shift, a move toward something I had been aiming at but hadn’t fully articulated.