Echo and Narcissus

Size: approx. 18 x 24 inches
Media: White paper cut outs, suspended by pins
Date: April 2004

This description will be long because a fair amount of work went into this piece. This is my drawing final, for which we had nearly total freedom, so instead of a charcoal drawing, etc., I did paper cut-outs. This piece consists of 4 layers, the three top layers are self portraits cut out of either warm or cool white papers, and the last layer is an un-cut piece of warm white paper. I chose this so that the papers would blend and differentiate at the same time. They are hung from the top corners by pins so that there is a slight distance between each layer, allowing them to cast shadows on each other and this makes the piece more sculptural. Cutting the layers was very labor intensive, so it really felt more like working on a sculpture than a drawing (my arms got so sore!). To plan out each layer I drew myself from life on the back of each paper, then designed the drawing so that the shapes interconnected (so that once I cut pieces out it would hold together as one shape), cut out the necessary areas, and flipped over the paper so that the clean side was showing when it was displayed. I then used these cut outs as stencils to cut out parts of or whole layers. Basically there was a lot of layering, repetition, cutting and work that went into the making of this.

Clearly from the title this piece relates to the myth of Echo and Narcissus. I was also working off of J.W. Waterhouse’s painting “Echo and Narcissus,” Ted Hughes’ translation of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” (which contains the myth), Greek vase painting (for the flowing linear style), T.S. Eliot, Chinese paper cut-outs and Kara Walker’s silhouette cut-outs. I’ve cast myself as both Echo and Narcissus in this piece, with Narcissus as the top layer in warm paper and Echo as the middle two layers in cool paper. I think this is kind of about my relationship with myself, about my narcissistic side that only seeks impossible perfection, and the part of me that feels forgotten and is always longing for something more, like Echo. I like the way that when the cut-outs are layered they create new abstract shapes that evoke different imagery, like when you look at clouds or those weird psychoanalysis inkblots. Yup. The thing that freaked me out about making this artwork (but also made it more fun) was that I had no way to know how it would look until I’d cut it all out. So this piece really kinda worked out on its own.

This piece also relates to my lifesize self-portrait, “Tyria,” because of the way the Echo figure looks like she has two heads, like the reflection in Tyria’s window, and Echo’s hair, torso, and hands are similarly posed to Tyria. Narcissus is wearing the same skirt as Tyria too. Yes there are a disgusting amount of connections, and some I planned but others I realized later. Anyway I’ll again be impressed if anyone read all of this.