The Swimmer

I have a regular practice of making ink drawings that I allow to emerge from both conscious and unconscious thought as well as where my brush happens to go. The Swimmer is a figure that has shown up in this practice again and again over the last few years. Although their likeness is based on my partner Whitney and rooted in my experiences of them as a swimmer and a water being, I don't consider these portraits. I think of them more as an archetype or a mysterious being who has something to offer.

An image of a fat, white, tattooed androgynous person sitting on the edge of a body of water with their arms stretched out to the sides. You cannot see their face. The tattoos are all related to water- sea creatures, oceans capes, the moon, waves, etc. There is irregularly shaped water both above and below them.

An image of a fat, white, tattooed androgynous person standing with their arms outstretched. The tattoos are all related to water- sea creatures, oceanscapes, the moon, waves, etc. They are standing in a pool of water and droplets of water surround them

4 color woodcut print of a group of figures swimming in a gorge. The swimming hole is shown in cross section and there are green mountains in the background.