Curtis M Gannon
281.857.7017
My work references the Pop language of American action comics as source material for abstract collages, sculptures, and installations. Comic book iconography offers a visual language that is recognizable and accessible by audiences from many diverse backgrounds. This subculture medium represents a modern mythology that brings larger-than-life subject matter into the predictability of our everyday life. The works explore the organization of time and space as prescribed by comics’ sequential format through the use of multi-panel surfaces and the layering of visual information.
When developing this current series, I wanted to create a body of work that spoke specifically to the basic elements of comic book structure: closure, serial nature, the rectangle as a primary format for advertising and technological communication, and the perpetual sense of expectation. In the comics business, “closure” is the duration of action and time that occurs in between panels. It is within this small gap that the reader must interact with the narrative by filling in the details. Time and space are very elastic between panels. The dense layering of my subject-less grids and weavings emphasizes the fragmented and serial nature of comic books, without talking about specific titles or characters. By using only portions of the original imagery, these pieces limit the burden of signifiers, while still revealing glimpses of what might have been contained within each panel. These glimpses suggest the perpetual sense of expectation promised in the next panel, the next page, and the next issue. By using the medium to talk about itself, I deconstruct how comic books function and communicate.
Though based in comics of the past, the gridded and rectangular format of my work refers to today’s digital technology, most of which, from laptops to cable television, is structured in a layered, compartmentalized format. The repetition of the square and rectangle recalls the common platform for presenting information, from billboards to comic books, magazines to candy wrappers, and coffee cups to iPhones. The proliferation of reproduced images is a hallmark of our contemporary world.