Nature & suburbia
Artist examines relationship between natural land and commercialism
Anna Nguyen
Issue date: 1/14/09 Section: Lifestyles
In the exhibition "New Hybrids: Ink and Graphite," artist Jon Swindler uses printmaking and drawing to assess the conflicting relationship between natural and suburban environments and strong visual allegories for complex social, economic and environmental issues. The artist's recent work includes relief prints and obscure sketches that show the artist's techniques in drawing, erasing, etching and scraping.
"[This] body of work represents the transitions between natural landscape into a commercial landscape," said Swindler, who was raised on his family's wheat farm in Pratt, Kan. "I [don't mean] 'natural' in the classical sense of drawing, but [the pieces] are my own interpretations of nature and its transformations."
Swindler preserves his transitory observations of synthetically altered landscapes that progressed during his daily commute to work in Ohio. The artwork displays the recollections of the dramatic change of the natural land during his four years of commuting through images of chopped trees and deranged fields.
"Development happens, and I am not trying to be critical of change," Swindler said. "But I am [suggesting] that it is a waste of nature and am asking the question 'What is natural and what is synthetic?'"
The artwork is displayed as complementary group pieces, showing the gradual process of the changed nature. Patterns and repetitions of the same images are intentional, illustrating subtle differences from the effects of industrialism.
"The work indicates wood printing and the ability to reproduce an image," Swindler said. "I like to reuse [the same image], and the viewer can see the slight variations. Although [the meaning] might not stay with the viewer, it stays with me."
It was also Swindler's idea to have the pieces arranged in a cross-like design, an homage to famed minimalist artist Donald Judd.
"I wanted the pieces to be displayed in an unconventional manner," he said.
"[This] body of work represents the transitions between natural landscape into a commercial landscape," said Swindler, who was raised on his family's wheat farm in Pratt, Kan. "I [don't mean] 'natural' in the classical sense of drawing, but [the pieces] are my own interpretations of nature and its transformations."
Swindler preserves his transitory observations of synthetically altered landscapes that progressed during his daily commute to work in Ohio. The artwork displays the recollections of the dramatic change of the natural land during his four years of commuting through images of chopped trees and deranged fields.
"Development happens, and I am not trying to be critical of change," Swindler said. "But I am [suggesting] that it is a waste of nature and am asking the question 'What is natural and what is synthetic?'"
The artwork is displayed as complementary group pieces, showing the gradual process of the changed nature. Patterns and repetitions of the same images are intentional, illustrating subtle differences from the effects of industrialism.
"The work indicates wood printing and the ability to reproduce an image," Swindler said. "I like to reuse [the same image], and the viewer can see the slight variations. Although [the meaning] might not stay with the viewer, it stays with me."
It was also Swindler's idea to have the pieces arranged in a cross-like design, an homage to famed minimalist artist Donald Judd.
"I wanted the pieces to be displayed in an unconventional manner," he said.
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