One of the things I love about being an artist is surrounding myself with other artists. I love the give and take of ideas and the ability to connect with someone else on a creative level. It's therefore pretty advantageous that I happened to marry another artist.
Ironically, despite our romantic union, we have never collaborated together on a piece before. Our working process and style come from really different places; I tend to be tight and methodical while Rob is loose and chaotic. I have always liked our contradicting approaches, as if his work is the yin to my yang.
We were given the opportunity to conspire together in a really interesting show at The Makers Gallery this month. The premise of the show was for artist couples to create a diptych; two pieces of work meant to be shown and hung together as one.
The creation of our work turned out to be an adventure in cooperation. It was actually easier and more seamless than I thought It would be. Our concept came about rather quickly: since it was a work completed by a couple, we decided to make the piece an analogy of our relationship.
7 by 3 feet in total, the piece is unified through color pallette and pattern, though the styles are very different. The triangle, the strongest shape, symbolizes our marital strength. Rob portrayed me as fierce yet gentle, while I depicted him with a blue jay: a loud and protective bird that is with its mate for life.
Working together proved to be an adventure, and a good one at that.
Rob's piece is 5' x 3' Acrylic, pen, and collage on canvas.
My piece is 2' x 3' Prismacolor Colored Pencils and Copic Markers on Strathmore 500 series paper.