MFA Thesis Show: "It is what we have become"

The saying, 'it is what it is' is useless. It halts the elaboration into deeper understanding.
My works are a direct reaction to the current state of the world; social, political, and environmental. All types of injustices are commonplace in today’s world of and in many cases they go unnoticed.

Obsessive drawing forms the basis of my art making. These images are created in an automatic fashion and are my astonished expressions of dread or frustration at the contemporary world. The works depict a world of people overrun by their own excesses, and belongs within the tradition of the grotesque in printmaking. I use figurative imagery as a reference to the fact that humans are responsible for the world we live in. I also rely on biomorphic imagery; cellular structures are the most basic form of life and reproduce quickly, and they symbolize the spread and development of humans and the ills that come with us.

These ills wreak havoc on each other, our selves, and the planet. My art is the personification of this chaos.

-William E. Higgins, 2011