Ethan Rowan Pope
Drawing/Painting
pope0050@umn.edu
cell: 715-781-1085
popebrothersart.com
My drawings correspond to a style which I call "composite photorealism" or "imaginative photorealism." Instead of drawing from a single source photo as other photorealistic artists do, I draw from a multitude of photographs integrated into what I consider a more creative, imaginative, and personal image, thus permitting photorealism to merge freely with the imagination. I develop my drawings through a series of increasingly organized drafts, and I engage in an intensive process of producing and selecting photographs for my drawings, and these photographs impart veracity and "believability" to the imagined realities I create. Although my photographs could stand by themselves as artworks, I use them as a means to an end -- the finished drawing itself. I place an emphasis on time-intensive craft in my work because I'm most gratified by such technical and psychological challenges.
Currently, I'm exploring the theme of storytelling, narration, and drawing from literature. I'm passionate about Franz Kafka's literature, and I'm working on a series of drawings based on Kafka's stories. Thus, the themes in my work overlap with Kafkan themes, which explore family relationships, the relationship of the artist to society, sickness, death, and the navigation of systems of power and bureaucracy.
