Chris Natrop

Gallery Affiliations: Taylor De Cordoba, Diana Lowenstein Fine Art

Region: Pacific Coast

Website: http://www.chrisnatrop.com

City / State: Los Angeles, CA

I was making large-scale charcoal landscape drawings that depicted organic and synthetic worlds intermixing in various ways. I loved using paper and giant sticks of charcoal, but I wasn't able to achieve the type of hard edge I was driving for. Soon I began trimming away various aspects of the drawing to simply achieve a new level of contrast in the work. Cutting felt very good. I really loved being able to make an absolute mark. I began showing these initial cut pieces suspended from the wall, they began to interrelate as installations rather than individuals. They became 3D environments. Cast shadows reshaped the surrounding interior architecture. Soon I stopped using charcoal altogether, and just cut directly with a knife. At that point my work and process evolved very quickly. It was like drawing with a knife. I love being able to evoke complete environments with minimal material. The lack of specificity creates infinite interpretations.