Steamroller Print

STEAMROLLER PRINT - ELEPHANT

Printmaking is unique to other mediums in that it is designed to be copied, as was done to this carving. Throughout the years, people have seen this piece in various forms: the original carving, the prints as two pieces of fabric taped to the wall, or all three mounted on wooden frames and hung in a row like in the picture below. Most people will look up at it in awe and admiration, but when I look at it I see a reflection of lost potential.

African elephants are a beautiful and majestic species. They grow to be 8 to 13 feet tall at the shoulders and their ear-span can reach 6 feet wide. I attempted to capture the grandeur of this powerful and gentle creature and instead ended up compressing it into the 7 x 2.5 feet canvas I was given. It is lifeless and stagnant, staring out into the abyss that is the viewers and its captor — much like an animal in a zoo and much like people, who are also perpetually forced into a different kind of box. So much opportunity and potential is lost because we aim for the things that other people value. And if/when that goal is reached, we all end up in the same place — copy & pasted people living copy & pasted lives in copy & pasted houses. I think there is a reason why so many people reach for the same things. It is safe and stable. And most people are satisfied with that, happy even. But others with a mighty spirit, like that of the elephant, are suffocated by it.

Making Of