deborah zlotsky

Jarple, 2010, powdered graphite on mylar, 6 x 5 1/2, Lumdrumvarum, 2010, powdered graphite on mylar, 10 ½ x 5 ½, Hillbitty, 2009, powdered graphite on mylar, 36 x 25, Vumb, 2010, powdered graphite on mylar, 60 x 48

In my drawing series, LifeLike, I manipulate powdered graphite on sheets of mylar through a process of documenting what I imagine I see as the velvety material is spread, painted, blown, erased, wiped and smudged. While the results are fictitious, the concreteness of the illusion I conjure up blurs boundaries between documenting nature and inventing nature. The uncertainty between the two raises questions about the ambiguities of nature and what we identify as natural. Despite the accidental way I search for signs of life in the smears, the botanical/biological forms acquire the irregularities, complexities and beauty of the natural world. Each drawing is named through a similar process: a piecemeal soldering of fragments of sounds and grammatical parts to construct a credible whole.

mysteriously, beautifully freakish...see more here.