Nicholas Pennell BFA Illustration Thesis Fall 2016

St. Anthony’s Fire

The work on display here concludes a semester long project that started with a few rough parameters; that the shapes would tell a story, and that the creative process would be, to an extent, generative. Each shape drawn was related to the last one, and could be further defined by what I chose to draw afterwards. No impulse would be rejected, whether it stemmed from storytelling or compositional curiosity. Working in this way allowed me to deal with subjects & narrative devices as a stream of consciousness, with the guiding principle of James Joyce, that there are no mistakes, only portals of discovery. And with distance between myself and the work, I was free to ponder it, play with it, or let it roam. The work therefore was borne out of relinquishing control, and regarding myself and my creative impulses as foreign to me. I chose to be the creator and audience to the work as they were manifesting. Working with a graphic language steeped in multiple 2d and graphic conventions, I deconstructed sequential narratives. A drama of forms, reactions and combustions ensued.

19 albums

Fall 2016