Thursday, November 30, 2006

Alien



In "Alien", Grant continues his exploration of "the other". His work is often populated by figures marginalized by skin tone, single giant eyeballs, multiple limbs, or extraterrestrial origins. This interest in outsiders may stem from the artist's own diminutive stature, as well as his inability to tie his own shoes, conjugate verbs correctly, and make it to the bathroom in time if he is having fun playing with trains.

In this drawing, we see a hot pink, cycloptic alien tumbling out of view. A portion of his head has actually left the page and his body seems set to follow. This unusual composition brings a certain tension to the piece, though it remains delicately balanced and pleasing. Grant captures the action of the alien, but does not explain what has caused his fall. We know that the artist has an intense aversion to the attention of strangers. Perhaps the alien is his surrogate, dodging our judgemental gaze.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

or perhaps having eaten the banana, peel and all, the alien is just feeling queasy