Blake O'Brien
Region: MFA Annual
City / State: Bloomington, IN
Letters form words, which constitute our attempts to communicate
with one another, to reify our existence. In my work, this attempt
often manifests as these basic ingredients of language, similarly
to the way an abstract painting manifests as the basic forms of
visual perception (another attempt at communication). I wonder
about why we, as a species, have the impulse to create. I wonder if
it is an attempt to prove our reality to ourselves and others.
I use historical imagery and formal elements that allude to
moments within the full range of human artistic creation in order
to point to the vast span of time during which we have felt an
innate need to leave our individual mark; a reality depressing and,
without contradiction, encouraging.