My art comes from a desire to reconcile the way I perceive the world as it is and the way I believe the world should be. Ever since I was a child I have had a rather idealistic mindset, hoping that we as human beings are working towards some sort of sustainable end in which we coexist with the planet, as well as with each other, without having to exploit one another or our limited resources. As I have grown older, it has become increasingly apparent to me that my ideals are not necessarily the ideals of those in positions of power or even those that I encounter in my daily life. I have a firm belief in not preaching my ideals, but would rather lead by example. Because of this, I try to not make anything in an attempt to change people’s minds, but rather to let others know what is going on in mine.
The work that I am doing now works best in multiples, as each piece seems to shine new light on each piece that came before. Some of my newer works were recently described as being snapshots, in the sense that the viewer doesn’t necessarily know what took place before the action in the drawing or animation, or what will take place after. After reflecting upon this for awhile, I realized this was a result of my conflicted feelings towards the future. By creating these snapshots of specific moments in time, I am allowing the viewer to create his or her own narrative, with the ability to change it as his or her worldview changes.
While looking over all of the work that I have done in the last few years, I began to develop a new understanding of how my art has grown and changed over time. Each piece seems to be a marker of what I was thinking at each moment in my development as an artist, bouncing back and forth between cynicism and the hope that my cynicism would be proven unfounded. Conceptual elements, line quality and other formal elements such as cross-hatching and the blending of the geometric with the organic tend to repeat themselves in my work, slowly evolving over time. My line drawings eventually led me to try and replicate a similar aesthetic of the line in the animations. Ultitmately, each independent piece is influenced by my previous pieces, creating a convoluted web of interconnectivity.
-Colin Liechti