Clint Fulkerson

Clint Fulkerson (b. 1980, Portland, ME)

I look to nature and human culture with the curiosity and wonder of a child, and yet I feel completely overwhelmed by the increasing pace of technology and complexity of it all.

My art is an attempt to seek respite, gain a feeling of partial understanding, and share my wonder of the systems and hierarchies we live within.

I am interested in how complex systems emerge from multitudes of small components interacting, and I create two-dimensional abstract analogical interpretations of these systems.

When I draw, I listen to educational podcasts and videos about astrophysics, the brain, consciousness, history, biology, artificial intelligence, video games, and other topics, and hope that these interests become embedded in my art unconsciously.

My process is stubbornly handmade in this technological age, and involves setting up rules and focusing intensely on the details in marking each present moment over a long period of time, until formations emerge on a larger scale. I often use geometric tessellations as a basis to create connection and interdependence between the marks, and to reference maps and CAD models. I use concentric stripes to reference topographic maps and geological strata. I use dots to reference particles and moments of time. Every relationship between parts of a drawing has an analogy to a real world relationship. Some of these relationships I intend and some are open to interpretation.

I think of each piece of art in progress as a life form developing. My rules are the laws of physics, my body provides the energy, art materials are the matter, and my human errors are mutations. I try to make art that looks “done” at every stage of development, just as a growing plant never looks unfinished. I seek to make a whole greater than the sum of its parts, and I try to set up situations with unpredictable outcomes.

My hope is to create worlds in my art that inspire viewers to be more curious and connected to the worlds we inhabit.

Follow Clint on Instagram:  @clintfulkerson