Untitled 2003

This untitled image is a simple line drawing made using pencil on white paper. It shows a man in a small boat aiming a rifle at a seal’s head that sticks up out of the water nearby. The drawing is composed of a mixture of geometric and organic lines that give the maximum amount of information using the minimum amount of marks with a cartoon’s efficiency. At the top right, a full circle, created by drawing around a circular object, represents a sun or full moon. Below it, a series of five horizontal lines ruled across the page using a straight implement such as a ruler delineate near, mid and far grounds in a watery landscape. In the far distance, three peaks drawn with a single zig-zag line suggest a small island or rocky outcrop on the horizon line that bisects the page in two. Two similar larger triangular forms on the line below evoke rocks or a landmass emerging from the water in the middle distance. The drama of the image is played out in the foreground where three shorter lines represent the water’s surface. Like the rocks in the distance, the man and the seal are crudely drawn but there is sufficient information to give the image a strong affective impact. This is all in the tension between the depersonalised hunter and the humanly expressive seal. An eyeless blob with two strong dark lines where his features should be and some rough lines for his hair, the man’s head surmounts his rifle, pointed out over the end of the boat, as he leans aggressively forward. By contrast the seal appears friendly, passively looking up out of the water at his killer. Shown in profile, the seal gazes at the man with a large dark eye, while its mouth is turned down in a sad expression.