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Demi Raven

Biography

Name: Demi Raven
Age: 34
Hometown: Chicago, IL; Colorado Springs and Boulder, CO and Seattle, WA
Mediums: Oil typically on wood or panel, graphite, acrylic
Interests: Reading art theory, representational, conceptual, and "pop" art, foreign languages, computer and software engineering, books and book collecting, politics and social theory


November 22, 2005 - 2:10 am
Demi-entry 7

As usual, a busy stretch of weeks has passed. Between the day-job and the day-to-day complexities of keeping life relatively well organized, I have been unable to make as much work as I wish I could. I have been able to pull a few ideas together, however, and hope that once the Thanksgiving holiday passes I will be able to squeeze in a painting or a drawing or two prior to the following holiday. Complex life, it is.

The "Crime Scene" show went well – everyone seemed pleased by both Rebecca's entry and mine. We also had a show of "Art Night" people that was good – it is coming down rather soon – how fast the month has gone!

My next projects are getting together work for a couple of upcoming shows/benefits. The first is an auction for Artist Trust (www.artisttrust.org), which is a non-profit organization that assists artists and runs some funding programs. The people that work there are wonderful, and although I have never had the pleasure of being awarded a grant by them, I really, really respect what they do for the community. Last year I was able to participate in an art-business educational/development program, which took well over a month. It was fabulous.

For this auction, I originally wished to make a new piece. Life is too crowded right now however, so I am donating a work I did last year (which I am quite fond of). I am including an image here. The piece comes from a series entitled Fragments, of which I have produced nearly 30 examples. All of them are comprised of a 3" x 8" monochromatic image on an 8" x 8" white field, with a line of text. The visual format and certain grammatical rules applied to the text are consistent through all of the works.

I have long had a fondness for art that incorporates text – I suppose if life ever were to simplify I would make an author of myself. A visual artist who dabbles in text is sufficient for now. I currently have three more-or-less open series that involve text: Fragments, Contexts, and Documents. The Fragments have just been described. The Documents are vertical, larger works with a wide horizontal image of people in motion in public spaces. The text, located in the middle of the upper end of the panel, is a vague description of the internal state of a passerby dissociated from the world around him/her. I was interested in commenting upon the ease in which people lose grasp of their uniqueness and the richness of life when immersed in high-speed, highly-technocratic ways of being.

The Contexts are mid-sized, thin & horizontal paintings with two vertical images, one of an isolated person in an urban setting, unaware of the viewer, and a second image of an object of some utility. The text, which is a small paragraph, is a pseudo-narrative bringing the person and the object together in a metaphoric manner. All of them have something to do with the separation between the external world and internal life, and about vision and experience.

I am interested in random connections, in stripping away the banality of everyday objects and activities and adjoining them with poetic intent. Juxtaposition and serendipity make me ecstatic.

I am diverging.

The other exhibition I am getting work together for is the Seattle Erotic Art Festival. I believe that will be my fourth year participating. It is an opportunity to work with subject matter that I do not frequently "touch" upon in my paintings. In past years, I was asked directly to participate. As of late, the festival has become popular and large, with people coming in from around the country, both for exhibition (some for exhibitionism) and for the party that it has become. Rebecca has been part of it as well each year. There is a wide range in quality and subject in submitted art, but the enthusiasm of the crowd is great to behold. Plus, it is a lot of fun.

I am planning on doing a larger-scale drawing in a similar format to the textual paintings, and to the drawing I did for the "Crime Scene" show. Unlike previous years, I am applying directly, since the show has become so large and organized. Very neat to see it develop. I will be working intensely towards the artwork’s completion once I return from this Thanksgiving holiday.

Happy holiday from me to all of you.

As a side note: I am very pleased and honored that I was chosen as a finalist in this competition. (My wife Rebecca, as well!) Regardless of the manner in which the next stage in this process develops, it has been a joy to be part of this endeavor. I feel tremendous sympathy for my fellow "Portrait of an Artist" artists who have not been chosen at this latest stage – I have very much enjoyed learning about the work you do and am certain that your persistence will earn you tremendous success… truly marvelous art. I wish I were able to see more artworks by more of the applicants – this has been an exciting, stimulating project, and for all the good paintings, drawings, and sculpture I have seen, I hunger for more…

More writing to come. Thanks for reading.

Website http://demiart.com if you are so inclined...

Image 1: Fragment v.27 © Demi Raven 2004, oil and acrylic on panel with text
Image 2: Context v.3 ©Demi Raven 2003, oil and acrylic on panel with text






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