In committing to the creative act, my primary endeavor is to actualize a work of art that embodies natural, immediate, and responsive expression through the act of mark-making. My aim is not to produce the sensational or the intellectually novel, but to validate the complexity of the human presence, to find a truth in my human condition as I might interpret it at a particular moment. A drawing is initiated at a point of encounter and is often a tenuous fragment or impression. This beginning is often a highly chaotic and kinesthetic activity in the accumulation of line. I acknowledge a kind of readiness for drawing more so than the existence of a muse or the notion of inspiration. This readiness requires listening intently to my surroundings; a humility of purpose and acceptance; and a quiet, though often exasperating, patience. I do not seek a drawing out but rather encourage the image to arrive at my threshold. I allow the lines to form organically, in a place somewhere between a vibrant reality and the recesses of my unconscious. I relish the elusive aspect of this emergence and honor this transient beginning as a place of discovery. Each drawing evolves in its own unique manner. There is no delineated, predictable order or destination; there are few preconceptions. The initial inception is expanded, combined with newly discovered associations, and gradually finds a voice of intent. Even though I encourage states of intuition, ambiguity, and randomness, I must acknowledge that defining formal or aesthetic decision-making occurs; my creative process is not purely automatic. Formal devices are used to clarify and strengthen that emotion which first compelled me to draw. However, any analytic construction is subordinate to the original gestural responsiveness. In the final image, when the drawing is delivered to the viewer, it appears transformed into a new, autonomous existence. However, at its best, the drawing retains the freshness and spontaneity of the original vision.
About the Artist David Sapp, is an artist, writer and professor living near Lake Erie. He is the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Grant and was awarded an Akron Soul Train Fellowship. He creates graphite drawings and writes poetry and prose. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in art and psychology and a Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing. He exhibits his art and publishes his writing in a number of venues across the United States, in Canada and the United Kingdom.