darren sears | worldviews
artistic cartography & geographic inspirations
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mixed media
These works—aerial views in watercolor overlaid with plexiglass representations of topography—are a detour from my typical collage-like approach, but they explore the theme of “compression” like the other worldviews. I refer to them loosely as my “Isolations” series because of their focus on islands and island-like environments—mostly volcanic landforms surrounded by water, lava flows, or urban development. Some of the volcanoes are crossed by pathways and boardwalks or are full-fledged urban parks, channeling my landscape architect side and heightening the sense of accessibility and humanization.
The watercolors (on paper) are glued to plywood panels, and the laser-cut plexiglass layers are nailed into the panels. In some cases many layers of plexiglass are stacked to create a translucent contour model. In others, contour lines are laser-etched into a single layer of plexiglass and then overlaid with several other layers that represent a section-elevation. And, in a few other works the contours are drawn on the plexiglass in oil paint pen, through lines etched in the backing paper.
Most of these works were begun during my 2017 artist residencies in Iceland and on Fiinders Island, Tasmania, and are loosely inspired by specific locales in those two places.
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