Drew Etienne – “Verbleib Unbekannt”

Artist:  Drew Etienne

In addition to being a longtime friend and member of the Artifex Guild (our gallery / venue next door), Drew Etienne is a talented painter, illustrator, designer, and multi-media artist. Located in Bloomington, IN, Drew’s work transverses deep into the abstract world of dense landscapes, pixelated galaxies, and impossible architecture to coalesce into a vibrant final form which feels intimidating at first glance, but ultimately rewards more with each viewing.

Drew has a multitude of exhibitions & gallery showings in his curriculum vitae, and an exploration of his past works displays an artist with a razor-focused aesthetic and no doubt towards the direction of his future. You can see his work locally in Cardinal Spirits, as well as two electrical boxes in Downtown Bloomington as part of their art programs.

Visit Drew’s Website: http://www.drewetienne.com

 

The Process: The Artist’s Thoughts

I was very excited for this opportunity to explore the screen printing process with In Case of Emergency Press. I’ve always loved the art that comes out of the printmaking field, but haven’t had many chances to experiment with it myself. It’s a very different process than I’m used to. With painting, I get the best results when I’m able to find the piece through continual addition and subtraction. With this screen print, much of what the piece was going to be had to be solved very early on, and from there I had to make very specific steps to get the image I wanted.

I started by making many small pencil sketches and eventually found the right composition. From there I created a hi-res colored version in a layered file on my PC and tweaked a few things and found a few more things. I experimented with several different color combinations and when I finally found the right one, the crew at ICOEP was very helpful in setting me up so I could mix specific ink colors.

It was great to witness the process of this piece coming to life one layer at a time, and the whole experience has encouraged me to explore more ideas in this field. I’m very happy with how “Verbleib Unbekannt” turned out I look forward to working with In Case of Emergency Press on future projects!

 

The Print: Verbleib Unbekannt

Designed in Drew’s trademark abstract style, “Verbleib Unbekannt” translates in German to “whereabouts unknown,” and a more fitting title couldn’t exist for the strange and monolithic structure with sharp edges protruding from a grey abyss in a fractured form.

 

Purchase: $35

Interested in purchasing a copy of our first “Featured Artist” poster? Head over to Etsy by clicking the STORE link in the menu or the image below!