John E. Dowell Jr.
Aloe Vera
Lithograph
30 x 22 inches
Edition of 100
Published by Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Philadelphia.
From the Artist
[The purpose for my art is] to produce the stimulus for the viewer to discover themselves.
Once the son of an English professor at school askedwhat my work was like. I told him they were marks and small linear forms jumping, moving, and dancing in space....
Some are very immediate and spontaneous, some are controlled, but all marks are ordered in some sort of visual environment. In my drawings and watercolors, the marks superimpose another surface on top of a white or black ground. For example, I may cluster 150 marks within a 10-inch square area to form a pattern or texture, which may have tremendous amount of movement within a particular area. In my paintings, I use marks to clarify the surrounding white space and try to create an emotional impact through the stress and pull on the mark.
—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records
