Michelle McCoy
Michelle McCoy
Through heavily rendered pen and ink drawings, I explore the architecture of living and non-living forms, focusing on real and imagined structures that exist within our world. My abstract interpretations of organic matter-particularly objects found in nature- emerge through thousands of precise marks, creating dense topographies that blur the line between observational study and emotional landscape.
Each drawing begins as an intuitive response to a form, a color, a particular paper–sometimes through an observational study, sometimes a free-flowing ink blot- but evolves through an almost meditative process of mark making. The accumulation of lines serves both to define and obscure, much like how our understanding of our own environment is simultaneously intimate and mysterious. Through the use of object oriented abstraction, I invite viewers to recognize familiar shapes while discovering new patterns and relationships that may be personally meaningful or perhaps strange. I like to say there are no wrong answers-for me or for the viewer.
The deliberate choice of pen and ink allows me to achieve both variable tonal value and bold contrast. Each mark is permanent and intentional. Yet within this technical straight jacket, I find spaces for organic flow and unexpected growth, reflecting how the creative process allows me to adapt and transform a work through this particular medium.
