Tuesday, July 13, 2010

MOBY-DICK, Page 307

Title: Next instant, the luckless mate, so full of furious life, was smitten bodily into the air, and making a long arc in his descent, fell into the sea at the distance of about fifty yards. Not a chip of the boat was harmed, nor a hair of any oarsman's head; but the mate for ever sank.

7 inches by 9.5 inches
ink on found paper
July 11, 2010

4 comments:

Rudy said...

Great found paper choice! I also love the simplicity of the image--all the white space really helps convey the sense that the mate is helplessly airborne. He really does seem like he's been flung up high into the air--it's both a sad and yet strangely amusing image all at once.

Matt Kish said...

Thank you very much Rudy. "Sad" and "strangely amusing" are more or less exactly what I was going for, so it is wonderful to read this. I like the double meaning implied by "The Ascent of Man" as the mate is both flung and killed.

Steven Russell Black said...

This one is great.

Matt Kish said...

Thank you Steve. I wasn't sure if I would be able to pull this off since it has always been extremely difficult for me to convey any sense of motion in my art. Somehow I think this actually worked, although the rope was helpful in showing that.