Impaled bunnies have feelings too, you know!

The Lives and Traumas of Stuffed Animals is a series of LARGE (some mural size) graphite pencil drawings and prints of Mr. Bunny and his friends. I find that using humor, however dark, is important in dealing with past and present dilemmas caused by overwhelming childhood ordeals. The stuffed animals are used as an allegory for children while objects such as knitting needles and Samurai swords are used to represent their adversaries. This series of work has been called ‘comically disturbing depictions of stuffed animals under siege’ and although there is a playful side, the underlying theme of the work is fear, cruelty and survival.

 With the mediums of graphite pencil on extremely large paper (the largest to date is 80” x 128”) and also printmaking I am able to achieve the push-pull of light and dark to give this work an eerie quality. I render the stuffed animals and their adversaries with meticulous detail. The use of tight rendering counters the lack of power the stuffed animal has and reinforces the dominance of the adversary. The layers and layers of graphite pencil in the drawings and the dark inks in the prints achieve deep blacks in the space surrounding the stuffed animals emphasizing their feeling of isolation. The one-point light source highlights the loneliness that the stuffed animal is experiencing. They are encapsulated by darkness which represents their inability to escape. It is important to me that the work has this depth of darkness and overwhelming presence to underscore the feeling of being helpless and to capture the aura that surrounds a person who has no control.