I explore what it takes to pay attention in a noise filled world.
My paper works are woven from pre-printed papers (book pages, maps, and other types of printed communication) that have been run through a shredder or sliced apart by hand. The process of weaving strengthens the paper and obscures the original content and character of source material. Each strip covers and reveals mere fragments of its source material in the weaving.
Printing new images over the woven pre-printed papers allows me to impress observed subjects into announced cultural notions (published information). I layer my dry-point and linocut images over the weaving, which influences readability from area to area in the print. My images depict simple identities, events, or activities. My intent is to allow woven vestiges of what came before (within the paper) to create noisy interactions around and within my simple, observed images. Their presence and the mark of what came before co-exist in a single visual moment - a reminder of all that informs and distorts a person’s understanding of a moment, an experience, or another being.
on instagram -- @mikesweeneyart -- @_marginnotes_
website -- https://www.mikesweeneyartist.com
My paper works are woven from pre-printed papers (book pages, maps, and other types of printed communication) that have been run through a shredder or sliced apart by hand. The process of weaving strengthens the paper and obscures the original content and character of source material. Each strip covers and reveals mere fragments of its source material in the weaving.
Printing new images over the woven pre-printed papers allows me to impress observed subjects into announced cultural notions (published information). I layer my dry-point and linocut images over the weaving, which influences readability from area to area in the print. My images depict simple identities, events, or activities. My intent is to allow woven vestiges of what came before (within the paper) to create noisy interactions around and within my simple, observed images. Their presence and the mark of what came before co-exist in a single visual moment - a reminder of all that informs and distorts a person’s understanding of a moment, an experience, or another being.
- Featured in the book Rag & Pulp (July 2023) by Uppercase Publishing, and Pressing Matters 24 (October 2023)
- Current Member: Boston Printmakers, IAPMA
on instagram -- @mikesweeneyart -- @_marginnotes_
website -- https://www.mikesweeneyartist.com
