Tony Guaraldi-Brown

"The Cut"
pen & ink wash
12x18

"This is a piece I did for a graphic novel I'm working on with a friend called The Cut. This image was inspired from a book of crime photographs from the 1920's and 30's that I look at for reference of strange body positions or to get into that darker frame of mind. I wanted to touch on the theme of nostalgia and powerlessness. After things are done we have no way of changing those actions that we created and we have no way of changing how we are perceived/portrayed by other people, yet we always wish we could. Ambiguity is another card I like to play in my work while also trying to present a clear story. Who is this tragic soul lying dead next to his neatly placed shoes? Was this man trying to kill someone else, was he trying to defend himself, was it some sort of crime gone bad? Don't know, never will, and that is the fun of most of it, making up your own story to these images.

Even though I use the ambiguity card, i really feel that it is important to stay connected to the viewer with the work. I don't want to give it away, but i don't want to present something that is so ridiculously out there that no one even understands it. I have a job to do and that job is to tell whatever story I'm trying to tell and still make it interesting. "

By Tony Guaraldi-Brown
http://www.tgbart.com/