A History of Art part 11

I was able to squeeze in a few hours in the Studio this afternoon, finally dealing with the right end of the fourth level. First step was to build a frame out of Erector Set parts around the Homer fragment and creating a partially enclosed space at the end. As a kid I enjoyed playing with Erector pieces, first my father's old set, then later getting one of my own with a motor. If nothing else, it was a way of practicing fine motor skills. If you ever built something with those tiny nuts and bolts you know what I'm talking about.

I peopled this area with comic book related characters. Of all influences mentioned so far, it was comics that most made me want to learn to draw, not an uncommon experience. I enjoyed both newspaper comics and comic books from a very young age. This may be the reason why narrative is such an important element of my art now. On the platform I put the Black and White spies from Mad magazine's long running cold war influenced series. They represent the use of satire in some of my work (such as the Scenes from the Grand Opening supermarket series). Swinging in from the side is a more traditional comic book character- Batman. There are a few others I could have put in his place, but Batman is one of the oldest comic book heroes and probably the most psychologically interesting, so I figure he's as good a choice as any. However, I'm not sure if I'm satisfied with my drawing of him (still have to deal with his hands, for example), so I may rework this at some point in the future.

Next time, I start working on the 5th level.