Ian Petrie

Born from the inherently black and white nature (in aesthetics and ethics) of the comics/manga universe, the surfaces of my pieces are used as utilitarian canvases to explore individuals' narratives. These stories, however, carry little fruition and as though the image is a single panel torn directly out of a comic book, the viewer must ponder and construct the rest of the story for themselves.

To this end, my work is made using very traditional comic/manga materials and processes. The illustrations are drawn with a crow-quill pen, shaded with an application of half-tones, and ultimately screenprinted by hand. My pots are all slabbed, coiled, pinched, and intentionally left loose, utilizing slip colors that reference paper and aged newsprint. And, just like the overall tone of my work, the illustrations show everything, blemishes and all. On some of my pieces, I utilize gold or silver luster to intentionally censor part of the drawing. Through abrasion, whether it is a few minutes of hard scrubbing or months of consistent use, the luster fades and eventually the entire image is revealed; but if one would like to preserve the beauty of the luster, they must content themselves with never knowing what it hides beneath.