Husky

Graphite and Colored Pencil on Paper

Over the past several years, I have been recording my daily weight fluctuations. Before beginning this work, I consolidated these recordings in order to eliminate repeat weights. In the drawing, I derived the size of the central circle by averaging my weight for the past 4 years and subtracting the result from my ideal weight (according to the Department of Health). Then, I added up all of the single-digit, common numbers from my weight chart and came up with 42, represented by the finger-like extensions emanating from the circle. The next level of solidly colored leaf-like shapes resulted from another interpretation of my weight changes. Emanating from the concave sections of the red form, the length of each “leaf” equals a specific physical weight multiplied and then divided by others, translated into centimeters. I multiplied or divided according to whether the weight was even or odd/small or large. The colors (cool or warm) also corresponded to those number qualities. The next structural section growing from these leaf-like forms came about after I translated my weights into letters and then into words, via a pocket dictionary. Then, I re-translated the new words back into numbers and plotted them as tentacle-like, looping extensions. Some of the information within these and the other spaces was derived from the following: references to state statistics of obesity and binge drinking; the exact middle sections of anatomy books (diagrams from these pages); the negative spaces in between the circulatory and vascular system; baldness progression diagrams; every word in the thesaurus for fat, with the middle letter removed. The black and white central snowflake shape was the final piece of the drawing. I made it by tracing and then overlapping the negative spaces of various paintings and sculptures from Greek and Renaissance history, such as the Spear Bearer and Michelangelo’s Moses. Lastly, interspersed throughout the work is information pertaining to the systems and processes in the drawing.