Description of Work

Agnosthesia - Pigeon - 2021 - Photoshop - Not for Sale

Agnosthesia - Blue Jay - 2021 - Photoshop - Not for Sale

Agnosthesia - Harpy Eagle - 2021 - Photoshop - Not for Sale

Agnosthesia - Sparrow - 2021 - Photoshop - Not for Sale

Agnosthesia - Cockatiel - 2021 - Photoshop - Not for Sale

Agnosthesia - Penguin - 2021 - Photoshop - Not for Sale

Artist's Statement

Agnosthesia is a word from The Dictionary of Obscure Shadows, a compendium of invented words by John Koenig that give names to emotions that many feel but don’t have a word for. I had read a small list of these words a few years ago and they really stuck with me. I have since thought of these words after, at times when I was feeling the exact emotions they were created to describe. And while I only found this word from the dictionary recently it is in part what this project is about.

When I initially began this project, I started by allowing the art to be pushed by what I was feeling in the moment. I have found that when I think too hard, my creativity gets blocked and making art becomes difficult.  I decided to let complex emotions drive the art and I found it helped me to be at my most creative, encouraging my curiosity and an awareness of my feelings. It was useful on a personal level too. Emotions, for me, are difficult to decipher. They often seem to be tangled together and not entirely clear. In Agnosthesia, I elected to represent this with the linework quality, leaving remnants behind of the previous sketches as I try to figure out what the image is going to look like, and what the emotion I am feeling really is. This project is a self-reflection and an almost clinical-like analysis of myself. I have used the moth as a representation of myself and the birds as a symbolism for releasing and freeing these emotions that I am trying to understand through my art.

Through observing this project, I encourage the viewer to think about their own complex emotions and thoughts. I want them to think about why they feel a certain way when a memory is brought up, why a feeling may be confusing, or even what emotions occur when they see one of my images. Viewers will see themselves in this work as they connect with complex and often indescribable emotions that are represented by my drawings. 

Artist's Website: https://www.jsnodgrass-art.com/

If you wish to purchase any of these pieces, please contact the gallery director, Jacqueline Nathan (jnathan@bgsu.edu.)