Artist's Statement on the
metalgirl series

My art expresses innumerable viewpoints in a personal style that could be dubbed 'perpetual synthesis.' I have focused much of my efforts synthesizing opposing modes of expression or at least making them dance together in such a way that their contrasting forms are pleasurable to observe. Bringing together the energy of the primitive and the refined pleasures of the cosmopolitan is my focus in the metalgirl series.

californiaswimmergirl is about punkishly exposing the structure of computer vectorization for the purpose of exploiting its raw energy and beauty.  It also joins a loosely drawn image (the face) with a photographic image (the shark) and in a twist makes the photographic image almost totally abstract.  To boot, the shark becomes the ocean and they are synthesized into one fear.

hopkinsgirl and hopkinscow are both elegies for an extraordinary Victorian poet who is quickly fading out of our cultural consciousness. An attempt is made to entice the viewer into his world via contemporary styles of communication using digital tools, all the while knowing that it is futile.

don't soak in the tragedy series (a subset within the metalgirls) synthesizes the opposing impulses of loose expressionism and intellectual control.  A gestural blind contour drawing of a face was scanned and converted into a vector graphic via a Wacom pen. It was then manipulated in Adobe Illustrator with the calligraphy brush in various iterations, enlarged and reduced and cut-up.  The roses and petals were directly copied via Xerox, allowing the cut off at the edges of the 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheets to show in the spirit of an early Frank Gehry house where the structure of a building is exposed for its excitement.  In compiling the images that appear, certain imperfections are allowed to be (while editing out others) in order to gain some additional energy like a loosely assembled early punk poster.  While smart machines are used as devices for both the development of ideas and control, a deliberate attempt is made to leave enough traces of the human hand and chance to give the composition life.

Many of the pieces join image with word in order to exploit the emotions and thoughts elicited by verbal expression.  It's another element that is brought together in the brew as well as how the text is printed on assorted metals.  In some of the work (for example, andnowshewearsflowersinherhair), the computer generated text is an element of control that is contrasted with the more gestural element of the linocut that is freely inked and printed.    

The forces of expressionism versus control play out in these petite dramas of human experience.

Eve Mero

Note:  Although the metalgirl series employs printmaking methods, most of the works can only be one of a kind because of how they were made. The don't soak in the tragedy series and californiaswimmergirl could be editioned.