A.D. Loveday

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Artist's Statement

I was raised on a farm which has now been re-appropriated for Dollywood's overflow parking lot.  I haven't seen a truly dark night since I was 18.  Everyone I know, myself included, has more electrical devices than relationships. If I had my way, there would be no more progress; but I don't think that's the answer, either.

My most recent drawings seem to document the shifting dynamics between natural and synthetic forces playing out on an imagined plane. My interest is not in judging the present but in exploring the relationships which occur between humanity, nature and technology on levels both visible and unseen.  I use intricate detail of pen and ink, saturated color of gouache and nearly imperceptible layers of collage to build up a surface which reflects the tensions I feel toward the current state of modernity-sometimes beautiful and full of potential, at other times barren and grotesque.

When I begin a drawing, I don't have an agenda or overt plan.  I love the infinite possibilities and also the narrowing of choices until there are no more to make.  I've never fully trusted words and feel that, through my drawings, I am able to talk to myself and to others on a more direct, uncensored level.  I like to think there are openings for exchange and a fluidity in terms of individual interpretation.  I usually don't know what I want to discuss until well after the drawing is finished, but for me that is what makes it a conversation and not an edict.