Oh Dean...

Oh Dean... is a piece I made for an upper division independent study class. It was inspired by Jack Kerouaks novel On the Road.
The book (one of the best I feel I've ever read) is the story of a handful of people who spend the post war years traveling about the US at the expense of pretty much everything.
I didn't necessarily want to capture a portrait of sorts of any one of the main characters. Instead I wanted to capture a feeling. Color and imagery go together in this piece to portray a sense of a grizzled, weary nature. The squint in the eyes reflective of one who is always looking to the horizon while the vibrant orange gives a sense of early morning anticipation for the day and at the same time weary surrender to the end of the day.
The text itself is from the very last paragraph of the book.

This work is also a bit of mixed media. The bust of the man is a linoleum reduction cut (the orange field is printed off a separate, larger linoleum block) and the text is silk screened.