artfordorks.com drawings by laura devendorf

In my drawings I'm trying to evoke a sense of a story and comment on nature of language in general. I've gone through my relatively short life in a semi-constant state of feeling at a loss to effectively communicate exactly what I mean, be understood, very coming of age notions I presume. I hold the assumption that you're "person" is only as readable as you can communicate said person and thus, I've taken to studying language in a wide variety of ways. I'm fascinated with the ever-evolving properties of language, how crosswords focus on actual words and wordplay, how computer languages are completely bereft of inflection and thus, action oriented, how music is a language without words and moreover how you can put music and words together and achieve something entirely diffferent. Possibilities of language are infinitely endless. Its presence is entirely inescapable and I love it.

I hope my drawings depict a sense of language, particualrly with regard to perception and possibility. My favorite passtime is sitting in cafe's, people watching and picking up sound bytes. I take the expiriences and surroundings and process it through my very own modulus and spit out these caffene fuelded drawings. They're usually based on quick gestural sketches then drafted and elaborated upon with words and such. I have very little actual interaction with the characters in my drawings and I prefer it that way, selfishly, I'm more intereseted in how I perceive them and what character I want to create.

I like drawing the elderly because of their capacity. Years of life, no doubt, must yield volumes of information. I feel they share in my plight of being perpetually misread and there is a certain comfort in knowing that. More than anything, I get a warm fuzzy feeling watching them and their anything goes nature so close to the end of life (forgive my morbidity).

I want my drawings to concoct all sorts of language, I want them to play with wordplay, word association, characters, stories and most of all, melodies. I want them to be an instantaneous experience. I want them be contemplative like Tom Waits' song Alice, dance to James Brown's Night Train, and go crazy on the piano like Bowie.

For more rants and raves, email me at ldevendorf@gmail.com