Forgotten or Remembered?/Apparition

This was my final project drawing for my intermediate drawing class. I had wanted to try doing a solvent transfer. I liked the polaroid transfers, but to create those pieces was expensive. I had asked a friend to model for me, so one Sunday I went over to his house and drew a couple drawings of him, and we hung out. Around the same time I was taking photos of the Old Administrative Building and knew I wanted to use those photos.

I had expected the piece on the left to turn out about how it did. The photograph transfered to the drawing. What I didn't expect was the drawing transfering a ghost to the photograph.

What I also didn't expect was how much the image would reflect the model. I didn't know the model that well when I drew him. But I kept on discovering how much he was giving up on life, on how in many ways James was turning into a living ghost. It was heartbreaking at times, but he couldn't get past his experiences and his health and his self medicating.

What I really didn't except is that he would die in a car accident in June, and that I would go to his funeral, and that he really would be gone.

In a way, this piece is very unsettling for me. Life is full of surprises, some are good and some are bad.

Spring 2007
Solvent Transfer/Drawing