Bored Panda reached out to Judith to learn more about her technique and inspiration. She shared how she came up with this idea using her fingers as drawing tools in the first place: “I happened upon the idea of the fingerprint by accident, while trying to enlarge my small, graphite pencil, symmetrical drawings for a large wall installation. I was attaching charcoal to long sticks and reaching out to draw. I saw some fingerprints on the wall and got the idea. I also noticed that both our hands will mimic each other's gestures, naturally. It seemed like the perfect solution, as a way to create the symmetry most directly, with my body as a drawing tool. It was a simple idea just waiting to be uncovered. So I did the first large fingerprint wall drawing at Artists Space, in New York City, in 2009. It was a pattern repeated down the 30 x 12-foot wall.”
Judith’s works have been exhibited numerous times, and she did some commission works as well regarding her fingerprints. We were wondering how Judith decides on the subject matter and composition for finger drawings. She shared: “I always request lots of photos of the space right away. The proportions, the light, the viewing distance, will all be considered. The first "landscape" came because I was invited to do a very long wall at the Chrysler Museum of Art, in Norfolk, VA. Landscapes lend themselves to horizontals like that... And it was also located near a botanical garden that I visited when I went there ahead of time. Another important consideration is the time I'll have to work. Some designs are more minimal, some more dense, and so the time allotment has to be considered in the planning process.”Judith also shared what she hopes for viewers to take away from her artwork: “Honestly, I just want the viewer to have an experience of curiosity, surprise, and maybe say: "Wow...someone made that."
Every artist has a unique creative process, and we wanted to know Judith’s. “As I mentioned, I start with the limitations. I feel free to experiment once I know the overall framework: the size, the viewing positions, and how much time I'll have to work. Then I can start doing ideas on rolls of paper in the studio, just to explore possibilities of marks, patterns, and overall shape. I am looking for surprise effects by varying the pressure, the gesture, and the amount of charcoal on my fingers, which fingers I'm using. I am not going to create the full-size wall drawing ahead of time in my studio. I am only going to do these experimental segments. So the actual full-size walls develop in my imagination while experimenting in the studio and come into being while they're actually being made on site. I can sketch out the proportions of my vision, and provide myself guidelines for enlarging, but within those broad guidelines, I am going to be working by eye, to see how it looks as I go along. I also like to work without changing things, it's all meant to be fresh and immediate, while also being careful and intentional. It's a mix of planning the broader idea, but then being spontaneous at the actual execution. Over time, since I have done about 36 of these now, I do have motifs that get repeated, but usually for a new end result. Expanding on some pattern or effect that I like from another piece but using it in a new way,” shared the artist.
Judith’s work hypnotizes our attention due to repetitive patterns and symmetry. We wanted to know what significance these elements hold for her as an artist. She shared: “The patterning came from my choice of symmetry as the organizing principle in my work back in 2003. I chose symmetry and carbon mediums because they are the building blocks of life, as we know it. I read about this 18th-century physicist, Ernst Chladni, who put sand particles on a metal plate and vibrated it with a violin bow, and the vibrating particles formed myriads of symmetrical patterns. That sounds simple, but it's actually profound. The universe is vibrating, and everything in it is symmetrical patterns! Bodies, animals, plants, as well as math, music, even our brains, and language, because every word has a meaning... our brain depends on those consistent repetitions, our brain is a pattern-seeking organ. So I have aligned my art practice to this primal fact of existence and consciousness! It makes me feel/believe that I might fuel my creative process from these same elements, the way that they have done on their own throughout the universe. Is that too much to ask?”
