January 2014

Splash!

The title of this show, SPLASH!, refers to a splash page: a comic book page filled by a single image. Splash pages are used to capture the reader’s attention and emphasize climactic moments in the narrative. These screen prints are based on collages Deardourff made out of splash pages from his comic book collection. In his collages he remove the positive space information until he is left with the vocabulary of comic book art that really interests him: exaggeration, movement, energy, seriality, line, and, most importantly, artificial color.

Before computers, separators colored comics by hand using a four color (CMYK) method. Screen printing allows me to mimic this process. Deardourff envision the gallery space as a blank comic book page. Each print acts like a comic book panel, both as an independent image and as part of an ongoing, melodramatic momentum.

John David Deardourff is an artist residing in Washington, DC. In 2012 he received a BFA with an emphasis in printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. JD has exhibited his screen prints in Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and DC. In addition, he designs graphics for Burton Snowboards and album art for RAMP Records.

Visit Deardourff’s website at www.deardourff.com.