Olmec #1 (2014)

Carl Krull, an artist who was born and works in Denmark, creates a variety of varying line drawings (in addition to paintings of seemingly wildly erotic amalgams of human bodies) that have captured my attention. Recently, I have been stuck on capturing depth through creating lines with different spacing between them, which is what Krull appears to be doing very well.

Olmec #1 is the first piece in the series of 8 similar compositions that appear to have faces hidden within them. Olmec #1 seems to be hiding a skull inside of the lines, which sway and create interesting contours suggesting this figure. It is interesting to think how much simple lines can create depth in this sense. Krull uses implied as opposed to real value that is created through the convergence of lines (that do not touch, however); this implied value leads to the illusion of depth and the supposed image of a face. Perhaps this piece (and the many more that employ the use of differently-space lines) was quite cathartic or meditative to create since it involves an obsessive repetition of lines across a flat plane.

Plate #4 (2007)

Another noteworthy piece includes a piece from the Plate Series. Plate #4 seems to be portraying someone in a perpetual state of confusion; the dark figure starts off by running through a door, up some stairs, and through another two doors that leads him to yet another room. This piece initially caught my eye because of the stark contrast of the colors and the continual movement that the eye does throughout the piece, starting with the ghost-like rendition of the man at the far left corner. The piece has an otherworldly feel to it; the eerie faceless figure seems to be trying to escape something, yet he can only go so far until he has to go through the maze again.

It is interesting to think how different yet similar these two pieces are. On one hand, both convey an illusion of depth and space on a flat plane; yet the line drawing uses line to create value whereas Plate #4 uses paint and straighter lines to develop the scene. Nonetheless, Krull’s compositions captured my attention for their illustrious use of the 2D space and line to create depth. I have made similar drawings to Krull’s Olmec #1 and hope to make them of a larger scale like Krull has done. I also admire the illusion of depth created within these pieces, which I hope to emulate in paintings I am making currently.