From 1999 to 2002 I created a series of prints
based on the following story and themes.
The Story: Archer lives on the slopes
of the Tower of Babel. He witnesses two horses being chased
and killed by a pack of dogs. Retreating inside a church he
sets about painting what he has seen until finally the building
is washed away by the sea.
Why this subject matter? I draw what
interests me and for this series I tried to pour in everything
I was interested in at the time such as William Blake, Pieter
Breughal, Christopher Le Brun, Dante as well as comics and
Japanese prints.
Why bother with a story? I wanted to
produce prints that could be big, small, very detailed or
very simple but all have something in common. A loose background
story provides that framework.
Why focus on things like horses, dogs and
towers? Many artists, such as Christopher Le Brun, use
motifs. A motif, such as a horse, is an image that an artist
may use over and over to investigate different approaches
to making pictures. They can reduce the motif to its essence
and draw it very simply or draw it very life like and detailed.
Therefore the elements that I decided to arrange into a story
(a dog, a building, a horse, a spire, a tower, a forest, clouds,
distant mountains, water and plants) were chosen so that they
could be recognisable when drawn as simple shapes or have
interest when drawn very detailed.
