Hi there –
I’m Danielle Draik, D. Draik, or just Draik. You can find my work on Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, or Etsy.
I’ve been working with an established visual language for most of my career – incorporating shapes and deformity to express moments, narratives, feelings, and identities. As far as figures go, I try to keep most of them androgynous/non-binary, mainly because I want there to be no barrier or inherent bias when the figure is presented to the viewer. My figures are their own and they can be connected to without assumption.
For Inevitable Choices, I brought in a figure that I have begun working on for a few months. These stark black figures with shaped heads are representative of different forms of death-like transitions. Most of these creatures are vile looking right now, such is with the ‘Death’ in Inevitable Choices, but I will be making more softer transitionary pieces in the future.
Circles and holes in figures in my work generally depict a “coming to” or a “connection”, or a “being open to” type of meaning. Using this cylindrical shape for ‘Death’s head couples the circle and the rectangle – a shape I’m beginning to use as a toss up between a good and bad situation. It carries the same opportunities as a fluid shape, but is also long and dimensional and carries the possibilities of time/movement/journey. It is less inactive as just “being open” and more of a middle-ground.
Here, the Death figure is presenting two ‘base’ choices, easily viewed as doorways. Behind it, a larger black doorway looms over. The illusion of choices presented leads to the unseen, inevitable conclusion.
So sad.
It was excellent working with GenderTerror to bring this piece to fruition and I am happy to be a part of the site!
Here are some more sketches with looming-death-figure: here and here
I will be exhibiting some of my workings with this figure with the New York based art group WIP in the beginning of 2017. Follow my social media or email me if you would like more information. dmc_finearts@yahoo.com
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