Trying: Artwork and Process by David Tarafa

New website

2011-09-26T01:54:00.002-04:00

Hey! I'm at davidtarafa.com now. Click on over and see what I've been doing.

Disasters (show at "the gallery")

2010-01-22T01:53:00.004-05:00

I know this blog is badly, badly, badly in need of updates, but there's been way too much to do lately. I expected to have some free time to use on updating here over winter break, but with grad school apps, new work, etc, I didn't manage it.

In any case, I'm having a show at "the gallery" at the Reitz Union (on the second floor). It's called DISASTERS, and it's running from January 24 until February 5.

There will be a reception on January 28, from 7PM-9PM. There will be food music, plenty of people, my mom, etc.

Regular gallery hours are 9AM-9PM from Monday until Thursday, and 9Am-6PM from Friday until Sunday. Incidentally, the image on the poster (which i designed) is a one of the more recent pieces I've made. I've also got some sculptural/installation work to post soon. Hopefully soon.

Show Update (Almost Everything)

2009-11-17T17:48:00.004-05:00

Wanted to mention that I (and ten other artists) are showing at WARPhaus (on W University, behind the Taco Bell) this Friday (11/20). The show's called Almost Everything, and the reception is between 7 PM and 9 PM, with gallery hours on Saturday (11/21) between 11 AM and 8 PM. The other artists are Ryan Gillis, Christin Kwan, Kyle Dunn, Michelle Vest, Nick Pilato, Lisa Oppel, Jesse Dean, Justo Molina, Effie Rodriguez and Benji Haselhurst, several of whom are linked on the sidebar. I designed the poster, which you can see below.

Posting new work shortly.

Show update

2009-10-26T10:30:00.006-04:00

Updated (10/30/2009): I have four pieces showing at Spin Cycle in Gainesville tonight, and there's some great work from other artists/friends showing as well. Worth a look.

Updated (11/9/2009): Also, I wanted to mention that I'll be having a solo show at "the Gallery" in the Reitz. It's tentatively titled Disaster Hummingbirds, although I'm working through some other possibilities. It'll be up from January 24, 2010 to February 6 2010, with a reception on January 28. If you're in or around Gainesville, it'd be great if you could stop by.

Hyena Mother 1 & 2

2009-10-26T01:40:00.003-04:00

Untitled (Hyena Mother 1 - Top Half) (In progress)
Acrylics and inks on clayboard
24"x18"
2009

Untitled (Hyena Mother 2) (In progress)
Acrylics and ink on clayboard
36"x24"
2009

The first piece is the top half of a diptych. This part is nearly complete; its other half is in progress as well. These figures are part of a larger narrative. I'm thinking a lot about Henry Darger and Jenny Saville at the moment.

Crystallize, Control, Blue Nude 2

2009-10-26T01:21:00.008-04:00

Crystallize
Acrylics and inks on clayboard
24"x36"
2009

Growth (Working Title)
Acrylics and inks on clayboard
18"x24"
2009

Untitled (Blue Nude 2)
Acrylics and inks on clayboard
12"x12"
2009

Hummingbird, Seagull

2009-10-26T00:27:00.007-04:00

Hummingbird
Acrylics and inks on clayboard
24"x18"
2009

Seagull
Acrylics and inks on clayboard
24"x18"
2009

Neither of these is complete to me anymore, although I thought of them as such before. The process has become more refined with time, and these both feel sort of sophomoric now. But there are aspects of these that I think are working still.

Long Overdue (Small Series)

2009-10-25T23:15:00.011-04:00

It's been a long time since my last update, but I've been working a lot in the meantime. These first images are of some small pieces I did while I was still starting to explore this new process.

Builder
Acrylics and Ink on clayboard
8"x8"
2009

Blue Nude
Acrylics and Ink on clayboard
8"x8"
2009

Beam
Acrylics and Ink on clayboard
8"x8"
2009

These last two are sort of prototypes for some of the work I've been doing. I still want to rework the latter piece. The first two pieces (Builder and Blue Nude) are self-portraits.

Strangle
Acrylics and Ink on Yupo
10"x17"
2009

Sphincter
Acrylics and Ink on Yupo
10"x17"
2009

Strangle and Sphincter were experiments; I was essentially trying to emulate the process I use on clayboard with yupo paper. I don't think these are entirely successful, but I like these plantforms, and I've continued to use them (as in this next piece).

Reach
Acrylics and Ink on clayboard
14"x11"
2009

Girl (Updated)

2009-08-27T02:31:00.004-04:00

Girl

Ink on clayboard
14"x11"
2009

With Remission

2009-08-26T18:02:00.006-04:00

With Remission
Acrylic on masonite
48"x36"
2009

I know I haven't been great about updating, but I have been working. I finished this piece a few weeks ago using fluorescent paints and regular acrylics on a very large piece of masonite. It's not much like anything I've ever done, and I'm most interested in the interaction of the fluorescents with the relatively dull primaries. I'll definitely be using them a bit more. I'll be posting more soon (a few pieces in progress I have yet to photograph still are currently in the studio).

Recently (Self-Portrait with Friends and Bird, Girl)

2009-07-28T16:25:00.006-04:00

Last week was pretty unproductive, but I'm trying to do more this week. I've been working further on a few pieces I've posted versions of, and I'll show some of what I've been doing here.

Self-portrait with friends and bird (in progress)
Acrylics and ink on clayboard
24"x18"
2009

I've been working on getting more intense color into this one. There's a lot of work to be done on the top half of this one.

Girl (in progress)
Ink on clayboard
14"x11"
2009

I actually think this piece was more successful before I added this body to her. I was still planning to block parts of this body out either way, but I'm actually going to give her a different body first. I've been drawing these long, distorted bodies all summer, and I'm tired of them. This girl needs a softer, less angular body, and luckily, the process on this piece is such that I can cover this one up and go at it again.

In any case, here's a sketch.

I'm also starting on another few things; I've been dying to use a tube of fluorescent pink paint I've had for months, and I'm also hoping to try a bigger and more complex piece with the same process as Girl (above).

Design post

2009-07-20T02:22:00.028-04:00

Jeff + Sacha flier
Digital
8.5"x11"
2009

I just finished this flier I was asked to design for a local band and I thought I'd post an image. (I apologize for the quality of this image, but blogger does not want to cooperate with those jellyfish). Since I wasn't given any limitations, I thought I'd try to have some fun with it. (I also haven't done any digital work in a long while now.) The background was made by bouncing superballs dipped in coffee on toned paper.

I've done some other design work as well, mostly for old classes. I'll post a little here.

Whaletype
Digital; acetate, mylar, handmade paper
7"x13"
2008

This one is a type specimen for Baskerville. I thought the tails on some of the letters (the capital Q, the lowercase g for example) had a distinctly marine quality, and I thought they'd be accentuated nicely by the shape of a humpback. The letters were actually printed on acetate, which was held over a sheet of mylar and a sheet of pink paper with two brass fasteners at the top.

Who Do You Trust? (Secret Invasion poster)
Digital; ink
10"x15"
2008

This one is meant to be a poster for a Marvel Comics crossover event (not that Marvel actually commissioned or used this; I was just messing around). The character is Spider-woman.

Postcards from Germany: Dresden
Digital; ink, watercolor
5"x3.5"
2008

Postcards from Germany: Berlin
Digital; ink, markers
5"x3.5"

2008

Postcards from Germany: Weimar
Digital; ink, watercolor, spraypaint
5"x3.5"
2008

These three are a series of postcards based on my personal impressions of three German cities I visited in 2007.

New work

2009-07-17T21:50:00.011-04:00

I spent a good part of this summer on a really amazing trip, and I've only been back for a few weeks. Since I've been back, I've been trying to define, or redefine, the work I'm making, or the work I want to be making. These are what I've been working on; some of them are unfinished still, and I'll post about my progress.

This next piece is the first I made this summer. I wanted to work on being loose- on drawing the way I sketch, on maintaining that same level of energy. I also wanted to focus on color a bit, and to mess around with this square motif a little further.

Self-portrait with explosion

Ink and acrylic inks on clayboard
16"x20"
2009

This a bit simpler; just a loose self-portrait on clayboard, which is a surface I'm falling in love with (even if it is a bit too expensive). I look like a dinosaur.

Self-portrait with void
Ink on clayboard
14"x11"
2009

This next piece is definitely still in progress. I like the color field and texture I set up, and the style of the self-portrait. The drawing in the bottom-left corner is of interest for me because it's a method of exploring the Faces series I've been working on that I hadn't considered previously. I'm still in the process of working more color into this one.

Self-portrait with friends and bird (in progress)
Acrylic and ink on clayboard
24"x18"
2009

This piece is still in progress. I haven't touched it much in days because I'm not sure where I want to go with it.

Girl (in progress)
Ink on clayboard
14"x11"
2009

Bodily (Underwater Drawings)

2009-07-17T21:30:00.013-04:00

For a few weeks in January of this year, I went out to a nearby apartment complex's pool with fifty-two feet of translucent synthetic paper (called yupo) clipped to lengths of masonite board and set them at the bottom of the pool, in the same order every time. Then I swam the length of the pool over and over, swimming close to the bottom, holding my breath, and dragging a china marker across the paper, making lines, which were also records of my movement. I did this until the cold was too much to take, until I was starting too feel numb, and until I couldn't hold my breath for long enough anymore.

Bodily (Underwater Drawings)
China marker, translucent yupo
624"x20"
2009

Rugrats

2009-07-17T21:20:00.013-04:00

I love comics as a medium, and I've worked with them several times. Rugrats is the most recent, a large, six-panel wall-comic about a baby and a cockroach.

Rugrats
Ink, tea
6 panels, 15"x22" each
2009

Books

2009-07-17T16:29:00.034-04:00

During 2008, I did some work with book art, which is a medium I'm attracted to because of its level of intimacy and interactivity. I also collaborated with another artist on two small books earlier this year. These are images from some of those books.

Adventurous
Altered text; mixed media
7"x9"
2008

Numbers
Moleskine notebook; mixed media
5"x8"
2008

Speak it and
Collaboration with Christina Dostaler
Book; mixed media
6"x5.5"
2009

Somebody New
Collaboration with Christina Dostaler
Book; mixed media
6.5"x5.5"
2009

Faces 1 (Kyle, Rachelle), plus process

2009-07-17T16:27:00.005-04:00

Faces (Kyle, Rachelle)
Acrylic inks on paper
22"x30"
2009

This painting is the first in a planned series; I completed this one in the spring. This piece was extremely process-based (and I'll discuss that here).

I started by making a series of portraits, including these:

Kyle
Acrylic inks & graphite on yupo
5"x6"
2009

Sofia
Acrylic inks & graphite on yupo
5"x6"
2009

Rachelle
Acrylic inks & graphite on yupo
5"x6"
2009

Afterward, I scanned these images and made new compositions using multiple portraits, like these:

Then I printed those images and cut along various lines and shapes in concentric patterns. I folded these in on themselves, placed them on top of a painting I made previously- Seen Your Face (in the previous post), and photographed them. These are a few of the photos:

The photos are meant to inspire the paintings; I'm still working out new ways to use them.

Seen Your Face

2009-07-17T16:11:00.003-04:00

Seen Your Face
Acrylic inks on yupo
26"x20.5"
2009