Thursday, February 9, 2012

cuts on rubber

Dubai towers all look unique at first, but as I look around they become nearly indistinguishable.  I began a series of prints this week influenced by the Dubai towers.  The shape, contours and contrast of darks and lights reminds me of fingerprints used to identify individuals.  Mainly the towers here are constructed by extremely wealthy land developers and corporations, each one competing for the newest most impressive building in the city.  It appears that the investors are putting their fingerprints on the landscape of Dubai, but is it really their mark - or the mark of the laborers who are actually building these towers in astoundingly short periods of time from start to finish?  The series of prints are carved in rubber - not a typical material for printing but it is available for me in this city and it feels appropriate for making sort of fingerprints of the buildings here.