Gone, etc.…

Graphite on Paper | Inspired by a photo I took of my friend John

I am definitely not a real portrait artist. I can’t see straight. For real. I have crazy terrible vision and have to have prisms in my glasses or I see double. So I will never be able to replicate a photo.

I’m trying a new thing. Usually I work with other people’s photos - photos people send me to work from or ones I find online. And then I draw using the reference photo as an inspiration - a “jumping off” point - with no real attachment to the drawing ever really looking like the person in the photo.

That’s why I always say the drawing is “inspired” by someone. And I almost never draw people I know because I don’t want to think about how they will feel about the drawing. I’ve done my worst work being concerned about that, especially when it’s someone I want to impress. So this was a challenge for me. I actually worked with Johnny and took some photos of him myself and I also communicated with him along the way. It has been an interesting experiment. I think the drawing is melancholy and emotive. And I think the drawing captures some of his energy, but it certainly is a departure from the photo…

The title is from a song by Meursault.