Multi-disciplinarian runs the gamut of compositions
All artists are like gems, but there are few who have as many facets as Edward Verner. If variety is the spice of life, then this multi-disciplinarian creator is like an entire spice rack. Though the material content and composition of his work are incredibly diverse, it has a consistent quality that is timeless and macabre.
One of his greatest advantages is a drive to create that he attributes to growing up with dyslexia. From a young age, he would disassemble things and rebuild them. He did this consciously, as a means of communication and expression.
“I didn’t talk until I was eight years old,” he says. “I couldn’t read correctly like other kids could, so I had to figure out another way to learn. That age developmentally was a vital time. Growing up, I would create stories for myself, play with things, take them apart, deconstruct, put them back together again, so that I could grasp and understand. Looking back at it now, all those steps I took along the way, I realize I was learning my own language through what I created.”
Verner’s work has gone beyond painting, to sculpting, building, and machining. He puts great care and attention to detail into every aspect of his works, from the processes he uses to where he sources his materials.
“When building frames, I like to use cabinet wood that is a few hundred years old, so that a piece has more of a story to it,” Verner explains. “Each part has a connection with something else, and the other half of the art is the story associated with it.”
He was inspired early on by film. w“My earliest artistic influence visually was the first time I went to the movies by myself, to see Dune,” he says. “This turned me on to David Lynch at age 11, a film maker whom I later fell in love with. I created scenes, drawings, made toys that looked like something out of Dune. Everything after that I compared to that movie visually.”
He has never chosen to concentrate on one form of construction. He has always worked on multiple fronts, taking on many projects simultaneously. During the course of this, he noticed that they all influence one another.
“I might be working on everything from a life size bust of a head to a very small drawing, and I feel a flow, in the transition between completely different mediums, maybe a certain angle that’s used or a certain curve.”
Verner is constantly seeking to challenge himself. A few of the projects he is currently working on are plaster sculptures, paintings, drawings, mixed media wall hangings, clocks, and road bikes. He is doing his largest pointillism drawing thus far, a 4x4’ piece—he built the canvas for it out of masonite, and has already gone through over 15 sharpies while working on it. After long periods of staring at it, pointillism can have negative effects on vision, so he has to take regular breaks.
With his newest plaster castings, he is making life size sculptures of the human form. For these, he uses medical grade plaster because it is stronger, more versatile, and less expensive than the fine art variety. He applies a few thin layers of plaster to his subject, allows it to dry and harden, and then uses a different medium to fill the form.
When looking at his plaster pieces, it is hard to tell what they are made of—they look as if they are heavy, as if made of metal or stone. This is in part because of a surface quality he achieves by staining the plaster with tattoo ink. He was a professional tattoo artist for years, and has re-purposed many of the supplies for fine art—he has a few tattoo machines that are strong enough to use as etching tools for metal working.
He uses these etching machines to create delicate filigree designs on metal. He removed all of the paint from some 1962 Raleigh bicycles, and is etching onto the polished aluminum bodies. He takes apart and rebuilds clocks, and etches the gears—and he is also building a massive 8’ wide clock from scratch, out of wood.
Regardless of what media he is working with, Verner is always exploring.
“I express myself best through what I create,” he says. “It is an inner dialog that I have outside myself in a tangible way—when I rebuild a clock that already works, I have something to express through that action. I like to challenge myself to create something that will translate well if it was seen in a 1920’s sci-fi movie, or 50 years from now. How is the piece going to affect me, and other people, years from now? There’s always a balancing point.”
Edward Verner Art Exhibition
Friday, February 23, 7 p.m.
Frequency Arts
1804 E. Main St.
www.facebook.com/frequencyarts