After working for several weeks on Odōr, a stop motion animation, I’ve returned to a series of oil pastels, after not working with them for over a year. My art spans various media, and the constant change like ocean waves allows me to return with a fresh perspective, helping to avoid formulaic processes that kill originality.
A critic (art professor) once told me long ago that perhaps not sticking with one medium impedes me from “finding my style.” Ugh. I don’t create art so that viewers can recognize a Lucas-Novak-formula. That’s not what drives me. I like what oil pastel artist Edgar Degas once said: “I’m glad to say I haven’t found my style yet. I’d be bored to death.”
In my oil pastel artworks, my subjects are often created from memory, influenced by the irrational and intangible thoughts and feelings, such as vulnerability produced after a dream. The medium is perfect for allowing me to work without hesitation, confidently expressing the moment by eliminating irrelevant details.
Exposure Assessment #2
Above is a picture of Exposure Assessment #2, which takes a scientific term often associated with toxicological evaluations and applies it to an interpretation of contemporary humanity, where we encounter climate change, chemical exposures, resource destruction, and other environmental concerns, and as we push on we cannot hide, naked and vulnerable, our psychologies and social interactions strange, our experiences inexplicable.
* UPDATE (May 30, 2020): The Exposure Assessment artworks began in 2018 before there was a Covid-19 pandemic. The artwork shown here was also started and completed before Covid-19 reared its ugly head and took over the world. But the pandemic is another reminder of the art’s relevance, in addition to the inspirations described above.
Detail: Exposure Assessment #2
Detail: Exposure Assessment #2