JT Bullitt
Exhibition: Making Meaning | August 1st- September 13th, 2015
I consider my work to be an ongoing series of "experiments" that explore the invisible, inaudible, and intangible forces that underlie human experience. I am particularly fascinated by questions of time & memory, language & symbol, and conscious & unconscious choice. I work primarily in sound and in mark-making (ink on paper, using pen or brush).
ARTIST STATEMENT
Every action we perform leaves its mark in the world. Putting pen to paper is thus an ideal metaphor for living. In doing so, over time, points become lines, lines become forms, and forms become symbols imbued with meaning. This hierarchical accumulation of small gestures adds up to a densely concentrated language of action and choice that can be rich with significance and emotional truth.
A simple line drawn across the page records many forces, known and unknown: the artist's conscious intentions, the tiny accidental movements caused by twitching muscles or a wandering mind, and — perhaps most compelling of all — the universal unconscious energies that lurk deep within us all. I draw on iconic and symbolic vocabularies from other fields of human inquiry (including science, mathematics, alchemy, politics, and spirituality) to create new ones, as a way of expressing our complex relationship to symbol and language.
The marks I leave upon the page also present a challenge: not to mistake the marks themselves for what one thinks they may represent; for in doing so one risks missing the deeper truths and beauty that lie just beneath the surface of things. There is always more than meets the eye.
JT Bullitt lives and works at the Pigeon Hill Station in Steuben, Maine
Every action we perform leaves its mark in the world. Putting pen to paper is thus an ideal metaphor for living. In doing so, over time, points become lines, lines become forms, and forms become symbols imbued with meaning. This hierarchical accumulation of small gestures adds up to a densely concentrated language of action and choice that can be rich with significance and emotional truth.
A simple line drawn across the page records many forces, known and unknown: the artist's conscious intentions, the tiny accidental movements caused by twitching muscles or a wandering mind, and — perhaps most compelling of all — the universal unconscious energies that lurk deep within us all. I draw on iconic and symbolic vocabularies from other fields of human inquiry (including science, mathematics, alchemy, politics, and spirituality) to create new ones, as a way of expressing our complex relationship to symbol and language.
The marks I leave upon the page also present a challenge: not to mistake the marks themselves for what one thinks they may represent; for in doing so one risks missing the deeper truths and beauty that lie just beneath the surface of things. There is always more than meets the eye.
JT Bullitt lives and works at the Pigeon Hill Station in Steuben, Maine
