Art + You 

Curatorial Statement by Teaken Haggerty

The collection, “Distortion,” by Laylah Ali, Eric Winkler, and Teaken Haggerty uses fine lines, carefully selected color palette choices, intricate patterns, and humanoid subjects to explore the influence of childhood cartoons juxtaposed with adult themes.

Laylah Ali’s use of color is very carefully selected and uses a limited number of colors in her creations in order to draw in or affect the viewer in some manner. Haggerty’s piece also utilizes a couple of colors to have a more pronounced effect on the viewer - highlighting elements the artist wants the viewer to pay special attention to. Because Winkler’s piece lacks color, he utilizes contrast in a unique way, which he accomplishes through shading and pattern work. Winkler uses fine lines to create patterns and shapes but also uses shading, like cross hatching, to create dimension while also enhancing the chaoticness of the piece. Using different line patterns via shading also helps differentiate between the subject and background. Ali’s character is also outlined in fine lines. However, Ali uses a watercolor pencil to color in the character, giving the piece a sense of texture. With the watercolor bleeding around the character, it gives it a sense of movement and aliveness to figure. 

The three artists, Ali, Winkler, and Haggerty use fine lines to highlight the humanoid aspects in each piece: Ali’s humanoid-bug creature, Winkler’s face, and Haggerty’s skeletal hand. However, Ali and Haggerty use watercolor to represent the non-physical - the shadow of Ali’s character and the smoke in Haggerty’s piece. The watercolor provides the element of non-corporal, intangible things - shadow and smoke.

These subjects by Ali, Winkler, and Haggerty all show an influence from childhood cartoons. In Ali’s piece, the character is colored in a child-like manner and with an element of whimsical imagination derived from nature in the character’s body. Winkler’s creation is reminiscent of Mad creations with its psychedelic human face. And Haggerty’s skeleton hand is anatomically accurate, but the joint has cartoon facial features. Also, the smoke cloud with an alien skeleton with intricate patterns inside is reminiscent of childhood cartoons that anthropomorphize objects or things in nature.