From the “King of Speed” series.
As with all drawings in this series, I used a nib to draw the original cheetah. For IV, I burned the image of the cheetah onto a silkscreen and printed him until the ink started to clog the stencil. I especially like the last image, where the stencil clogged the area around his waist. His long, lean body looks exaggerated and sickly. Please click HERE to read my description of this series.
I recently became interested in King Charles II, the last of the Hapsburg Spanish line. The House of Hapsburg began in the 10th century, gradually gaining influence and territory via strategic marriages. The pinnacle of their empire came in the 1500s, with King Charles V, whose empire spanned across Europe, the Far East and the Americas. It was around this time that the Hapsburg family, the royal descendants of Spain, Austria and Bavaria, stopped outbreeding. Consequentially, King Charles II was the ultimate product of severe inbreeding. He suffered from many physical and mental disabilities, and was unfit to rule and produce offspring. He died in 1700 and the Hapsburg strategy of marriage to increase their power, in the end, became the reason for their extinction.
The silkscreen is the first printing method in which colour was an option, so I decided to mix a deep blue and silver, making a reference to the English idiom “blue blood” for royal lineage. I liked the idea of printing with imaginary blue blood because even though it is beautiful and iridescent, it succumbs to the physicality of the printing method, just like anything else.
The show opening at Navillus Gallery is tomorrow and this royal guy will be there! I am very excited and I’ll see you soon!
-Christie
