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contact:
tarichards10@yahoo.com |
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I initially began the Ripon drawings in 2005 in response to the genocide in Rwanda. I was stunned by the way that people who could live as neighbors could suddenly turn on one another to commit such atrocities. I was also amazed by the slow response by the international community and the U.S. in particular. Was it because these people lived so far away that we didn't seem to care? Or was it because they were black? I wanted to think about just what motivates people to commit such acts of violence, but I wanted to replace the Rwandans with people who looked more like my Midwestern family and neighbors. In doing so I had hoped to bring the violence closer to home and to remove the sense of "otherness" that Americans might have felt about these events. |
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These drawings are from The Two of Us(2003) a series of drawings that explore a recurring theme of the imaginary friend and protector in children's literature, but with darker implications . |
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Coveting (2004-present) A series of pencil drawings that began as a sort of consumer “exorcism” by drawing the object I would be freed of its hold on me, or at least hoped to be. Some objects like the Pottery Barn beds were less specific and appealed to me as a type; they are drawn then at a smaller scale and many to a sheet of paper. The 2004 Vespa, on the other hand, has a hold that is strong on me and I found myself spending over twenty hours laboring over it. So far the series has mainly stuck to furniture, but with the Vespa I see the scope broadening and plan future pieces that deal with lofts and clothing. |