Jonathan Barcan

Lives and works in Portland, OR, USA

Artist statement

Statement: Billions and Billions This body of monoprints is inspired from a lecture by contemporary philosopher Alan Watts, titled, "The Wiggly World.” Watts describes the connection between human consciousness and the Big Bang, and discusses the challenge that society has to integrate ‘nature’ with ‘progress’. The concept has led to combining imagery ranging from the figurative to the abstract. Diagrammatic drawings sit alongside anatomical illustrations, textual elements, and references to medical scans. The prints, like Watts’ theories, explore the progression of humanity in relationship to the evolution of the universe. It is as if without conscience, in the same way that a rock knows nothing of the hillside that it slides down or a molecule knows nothing of the biological current that it travels, our collective culture moves with a forward momentum that exists without memory. To create, “Billions and Billions,” I employ a variety of printmaking techniques, including Drypoint, Line Etching, and Aquatint methods. The submitted works utilize a multiple plate printing process wherein each image is made up of ten to fifty different etchings, run through the press together on a single sheet of paper. Each resulting piece has a stacked and quilted quality, referencing compiled information and presenting many parts as a whole. I find that arranging larger compositions from a collection of smaller pieces allows for a creative improvisation which helps to push even further how...

Artwork