Co-Existent

This body of work was created my final semester at Murray State University. It is my senior thesis show, incorporating both my printmaking and graphic design background. Artist Statement: Multiples occur in many forms, from the propagation of plants to the twinning of offspring. Bound by similarity, a twin’s identity outside the confinement of his or her coinciding relationship is often neglected. As a twin, my brother and I grew accustomed to answering to each other’s name at an early age, blurring the line between our individual identities. Like seeds from a pod, we are often categorized or grouped together, reinforcing our shared identity. The function or purpose of identity is to give an individual a continuous sense of his or her own internal reality. Development, emotional experiences, and life choices shape an individual’s personality and their identity as well. Through the context of multiples my work explores individuality, commenting on the sense of shared identity and emphasizing a realization of separation. A union of graphic design and printmaking, my work is influenced by that of Charles Beneke who pairs solid graphics and pattern with photography. Like Beneke, I combine graphic imagery and type but with drawn elements, using repetition to reinforce the concept of multiples. Imagery of seeds and their pods, dashed lines, and other repeated imagery helps communicate the concept of multiples and their common connection. Typography helps create a cohesive atmosphere and also expresses the individuality of each counterpart. Warm colors create a sense of belonging while inkblot imagery supports uniqueness. Bringing together printmaking and graphic design through artist books, the viewer is invited to give closer inspection of the work. The separate pages bound together in a book reference both twins separate and shared identities. Benjamin Rinehart’s Fragmented Relations is very inventive in the way the viewer interacts with the work. Influenced by Rinehart’s structures, I incorporate my imagery into books and boxes that focus on the intereaction with each other, and the interaction of the viewer with the work as a whole. The multiple nature of prints, books, and graphic design communicate the idea of multiples in nature. Each medium can stand alone or be combined to create a whole, just as in twins with their separate and shared identities.