Labyrinth of Solitude

2020, pen, ink and watercolor on wood, 12x12"

@ErinSledd

Academic and artist Erin Sledd works at the intersection of the humanities, art, and technology. She is deeply fascinated by the nature of form and structure, of transformation and permutation. Her research and creative interests span the connections between text and image, the analog and digital world, virtual and material structures, metamorphoses, and hybridity. She has taught literature and composition in the United States and graphic design and exhibition design in Pakistan. Her most enduring obsession seems to be the labyrinth, in all its manifestations; currently she teaches a World Literature course that focuses on labyrinth and labyrinthine texts ranging from Greek Mythology to contemporary novels, films, and stories.

Visually, she draws from a well of knowledge in literature, images, history and science to create images that surprise and delight. Often ornamental and intricate, her work is nevertheless firmly conceptual in origin, reflecting her conviction that compelling art and design is rooted in meaning. She loves designing for print and reproduction because, in a sense, each image is the original. As Fornassetti said, "A thing does not become less beautiful because it is reproduced 20,000 to 30,000 times."