Post-Its for New Creation Art Show (March, 2012)

My most recent post-its are admittedly a little darker in subject matter.  In particular, these are two pieces that I produced over Spring Break for a collection of offerings from Duke's New Creation Arts Group.

The first is called "Good Friday," and unlike many of the images I work with, I had a very clear goal in mind for the symbolic elements here.  The brokenness of the church has been a fixation of mine lately, and the idea of Christ's Body being torn apart through schism has been a recurring image in my mind.  I incorporated the red sun in the background to convey a sense of absolute suffering (like that of Christ on the cross), and the face in the foreground is a traditional portrait of Christ that I have subverted a bit by pulling it apart.  There's a pretty lengthy story behind this piece really, so if you're curious to learn more, feel free to seek me out around the Divinity School or email me at tom.lewis@duke.edu.  I already have a buyer lined up for this piece.

The second is an untitled crucifixion scene where I was toying with a new technique.  I've always been impressed by pointillism (a style where artists use tiny dots of color rather than blends and brush strokes), so I thought I would apply that idea to the post-it medium.  I decided to keep things fairly abstract, making only the most basic form of a human body recognizable, and I wanted to make a point of using a wide variety of flesh tones in the image, so I created a full color palate using all the notes I had available.  I still consider both this piece and the new style to be works in progress, but with this new approach to post-it color matching, there's now a chance that I may be able to do something in the near future that I've never attempted before: realistic coloration.  I'll keep updating here as this develops.

Duke Divinity School History Panels (Spring 2012)

Over the past couple of years, I've gotten pretty handy with GiMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program-- pretty much a poor man's Photoshop).  Part of my job over the past year has been the construction of a series of photographic history panels for Duke Divinity School using this program, and I think the results turned out pretty well.  The original files are far too large for the blog, but here is a version with lowered resolution:

These panels represent (from left to right): The Founding of Duke University School of Religion, Duke Chapel, the Gray Building, York Chapel, the Langford Building, Goodson Chapel, and the Westrbook Building.  Note the alternating pattern of architectural/academic panels with open spaces of worship.

Also, here are a few photos of the installation:

For any potential employers out there interested in viewing full resolution digital copies of these images, feel free to contact me, and I'll be happy to send samples your way.