ALICE COMBS

A theme I return to often in my work is emergence.  Emergence describes how complex systems and beings can form out of very basic or simple parts.  Individual neurons are simple compared to the brains and memories they form.  The simple ink marks I make in my drawings are like singular neurons, but together, they form more complex and surprising spaces.  Depth emerges from the contrasting directions of the marked letters/negative spaces.  The concept of emergence is particularly relevant to language, and so my drawings of letters-- besides being a form for my marks to inhabit-- also call to mind the randomness and simplicity of the forms that have emerged into linguistic meaning.  

 

Each of the drawings in the series Inventory are done with sign-painter’s enamel on synthetic Yupo paper.  The color borders are personal synesthetic associations. For example, if someone asked me what color “K” naturally contains, I would say “yellow” and to me that is the only obvious answer.  The drawings range from just over a foot wide to over 6 feet wide, and all are 23” tall.

 

Inventory was shown as part of the solo-show collection in the Diego Rivera Gallery at SFAI called, “You who read me, are you sure of understanding my language?” from April 6-12 2014.