Timber, Scott Hunt
Timber, charcoal on paper
A scene that might come from a family album, at first sight
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At the edge of a pinewood forest, three white men are sawing a stump under a bright light. Standing on the trunk in the middle of the picture and wearing a cowboy panoply, a boy is facing us, as if posing for the photograph.
Simultaneously to this appearance of plainness comes out an awkward feeling. The child is wearing an eye mask. Something makes us feel uneasy, but yet, there is no evidence that any malice is hidden in the scene.
In Scott Hunt's drawings, either an individual is looking at us straight in the eyes, either a blank occupies the center. Faces are veiled by a mask or an expression that can't be read. Leading us to search for a meaning that is beyond reach, and thus endless.
Scott Hunt makes his drawings after collages of random snapshots from the 40s to the 60s. He finds them in flea markets or in the internet. His mastering of charcoal drawing gives a unity and an appearance of reality to the images he creates.
The original photographs he uses are seen out of context, which makes it impossible to figure any off-camera. Moreover, those found pictures represent people who are most certainly dead nowadays, this might accounts for the ghostly presence in his work.
The technique of collage is very efficient at creating narratives. It is the nature of our brain, to construct significations out of signs. Scott Hunt's drawings have the power to create, in the viewer's mind, a strong desire for a narrative. His images raise a lot of questions, but display no obvious answers. Dark blurred features. Did anything ever happened ?
It is on the same question that Theodore Sturgeon's novels rely. His stories are made of the same ambivalence and atmosphere, clear cut and yet mysterious. “Some of Your Blood” 1961 for instance, is a book that is hard to classify. Is it Noir fiction or fantasy? It doesn't seem human(e) after all, but what else could it be? Scott Hunt's drawings share the same power of attraction to something that can't be seen for sure.
http://www.scotthuntstudio.com/