Sullivan Meservey

My drawings are inspired by natural decay, microscopic life, and cosmic phenomena. Working with wax-based colored pencil layered onto colored paper, I create shapes that evoke the human sense of animacy detection.

I am drawn to the mechanics of the infinitesimal and the immense. Although naked to the human eye, cellular and microbial structures, visual noise, and astronomical formations are understandable to humans. Whether or not this understanding is primed by popular science or media, we know "life," or "life-like" when we see it.

When displaying intimate drawings, the disproportion of negative space feels like a dialogue of enclosure and observation, which we might find in both a gallery and laboratory.

My interest in this subject is not rooted in any sort of scientific education. I instead once had a jubilant year of psychedelic exploration that inspired a fountain of shapes and symbols. My journey to catalogue them continued through the autumn when my mother passed. The exploration was then very cathartic and personal. I spent the next few years writing creatively before returning to the visual language I have developed today.

Born in Austin and raised in the Lost Pines of Bastrop with my two sisters and a pet duck, I later graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. I have worked in commercial screen printing and in various community studios, and published comics with an indie publisher from San Francisco. I am an avid road cyclist and live with my cat, Ghost.

Follow my work on Instagram @sulli.meservey