Quest

Abstract

During the summer of 2004, I was able to visit with Mark Seay, who hires all of the sculptors, plasterers, and set construction personnel for Warner Brothers Studios in California. I learned of the extensive use of Styrofoam in set design. Even a life-sized Lincoln Memorial, which was later purchased by a Japanese company, was constructed from Styrofoam and other alternate materials for the movie Nixon. This visit proved to be influential to me and the beginning to an investigation of new studio techniques and materials that I could use for constructing my visual art. I took key elements from my previous paintings and drawings and incorporated them into a metaphorical adventure. The metaphors used in this journey are symbolic of a spiritual world and I created a dog named Quest to be the main character in this body of work. I chose to use a dog because of what it symbolizes. A dog is also faithful to its master, loves its master and is lovable. A dog also has a keen sense of smell and knows when something is near without seeing it. All of the dogs in a neighborhood know when an ambulance is coming before humans do because they are tuned in to high frequencies. I wanted my dog's ears to be a dominate feature since animal ears can be very expressive. Quest's ears also resemble the feelers of an insect and a sensitive touch was another characteristic that I wanted my character to display. The ideas of amplified smelling, hearing and feeling were important for my character since Quest would be experiencing an unseen world. I chose to create a fictional cartoon animal for my spiritual adventure because I wanted to soften the confrontational aspects that generally accompany Christian beliefs and practices. Keeping it fun and frivolous gives me a larger audience.