Visitor

Medium Description

Watercolor, pencil, ink, and chalk pastels.

Artist Description

Visitor is a visualization of a primal fear of someone approaching silently behind you. This fear is so common and easily triggered, that countless horror mediums (books, movies, games, etc.) have capitalized on that sense of dread and unease. The eerie, zombie-reminiscent hand emerging from behind a door (which seems to be the barrier between the outside world and some ethereal or otherworldly realm of swirling colors and hues) is meant to show that, while primal and even evolutionarily beneficial, that initial fear of the unknown or unseen can oftentimes act as a barrier between yourself and wonderful things. I personally have gotten in my own way countless times, and chalked it up to fears and anxieties, those ever heavy ‘what ifs’ that can kill even the most robust of hopes if given in to too readily. 

While intended as a visual representation of that fear and of the stifling that fear can lead to if never challenged, I would be remiss I did not also disclose that part of my decision in using a hand specifically in my visuals was because this was created during one of the peak moments in AI generated images and ‘art’ flooding the internet and world in general, and quite frankly, creating something that those slop bots continue to struggle with (e.g. human hands) felt therapeutic and cathartic in its own way.