Taking Shape - Dave Quick

Dave Quick
Wichita, Kansas

Since returning to Kansas a decade ago, I have engaged in several new artistic projects, as well as continuing those from earlier years. The two major series I have worked on since returning are Y2K-Youth 2000, a ten hour video and series of video-related photographs concerning the hidden life of American youth at the turn of this new century and The Eighty-One Catworks of which these works and several videos are a part. The Art Critic and Andy Warhol scholar, Dr. Patrick S. Smith has said that the catworks are my way of summarizing my own artistic life. He believes that they are an attempt to define the sublime, which he has stated on several occasions is my true subject matter. Be that as it may, The Eighty-One Catworks began formally nine years ago when I realized that cats as subject matter had occurred many times in my work. I chose the number eighty-one since that equals nine times nine and must in some way be a mystical cat number. From the beginning of the series I determined that I would not be hampered by any restricted medium or working process: rather I would attempt to move with a cat-like freedom through my choices of approach toward the subjects I wished to convey. Likewise, rather than predetermine each subject, I chose to act as intuitively and impulsively as possible and embrace each idea I conceived for the series as spontaneously as possible. I thought that the series might take a decade to complete. Thus far, fifty-three of the catworks are completed, eight are in progress and a couple of dozen roam about my mind in the conceptual stage. Upon beginning the series, I wondered if eight-one works was not an unrealistic goal. Now, I wonder how I can possibly contain the series to just that number. Since cats are not known for their ability to count, I have decided that a set number of works is no longer of importance. My major goal remains to attempt to portray both the universal condition of humanity and of our fellow creatures through these works, using whatever means seems appropriate to me at the time.







			Eighty-One Catworks video still
		Dave Quick Wichita, Kansas Since returning to Kansas a decade ago, I have engaged in several new artistic projects, as well as continuing those from earlier years. The two major series I have worked on since returning are Y2K-Youth 2000, a ten hour video and series of video-related photographs concerning the hidden life of American youth at the turn of this new century and The Eighty-One Catworks of which these works and several videos are a part. The Art Critic and Andy Warhol scholar, Dr. Patrick S. Smith has said that the catworks are my way of summarizing my own artistic life. He believes that they are an attempt to define the sublime, which he has stated on several occasions is my true subject matter. Be that as it may, The Eighty-One Catworks began formally nine years ago when I realized that cats as subject matter had occurred many times in my work. I chose the number eighty-one since that equals nine times nine and must in some way be a mystical cat number. From the beginning of the series I determined that I would not be hampered by any restricted medium or working process: rather I would attempt to move with a cat-like freedom through my choices of approach toward the subjects I wished to convey. Likewise, rather than predetermine each subject, I chose to act as intuitively and impulsively as possible and embrace each idea I conceived for the series as spontaneously as possible. I thought that the series might take a decade to complete. Thus far, fifty-three of the catworks are completed, eight are in progress and a couple of dozen roam about my mind in the conceptual stage. Upon beginning the series, I wondered if eight-one works was not an unrealistic goal. Now, I wonder how I can possibly contain the series to just that number. Since cats are not known for their ability to count, I have decided that a set number of works is no longer of importance. My major goal remains to attempt to portray both the universal condition of humanity and of our fellow creatures through these works, using whatever means seems appropriate to me at the time.