Shane Woodward
He/Him

Recollection

My first exposure to Art came in the form of comic books. The illustrative style spoke to my adolescent mind and brought forth a desire to imitate and recreate my favorite characters. Lacking the basic knowledge and skills needed to render recognizable copies, I bought a light table and began tracing over the full-page action scenes. Over time, my interest in comic books evolved into freehand sketching and the creation of many original characters — which, of course, became more complex as my technical skills and interest level grew. However, life moves fast and took me away from art for many years. The combination of serving overseas and many tumultuous political cycles have grounded and fueled me in my art practice today, providing the framework for how I confront the world around me.

With Recollection I have cut up the pages of my childhood comic books and collaged them as a way of deconstructing the past. These pages have been reconstructed to depict contemporary characters from the medium, reflecting both the shift in popularity from the hero to the anti-hero in the public sphere, as well as my perception of the person I thought I was going to be. Each character is a popular modern comic book hero posed as their classic counterparts, once again allowing the past to inform the present. I want to pay homage to the proverbial spark — the fork in the road that led me down this path — as well as the path itself. Who are we, if not our past?