Current Artist Statement.

My current body of work centers on the idea of roots or being uprooted and its relationship to the individual characters, human or animal. The situations that arise in the work are pulled from a remembered bank of larger narratives and are expressed through hints, only to give the viewer a glimpse of the chimerical. Through bodily gestures and facial expressions, of characters those chances, struggles and releases can be seen. Some of the characters are self-portraits while others are taken from various accounts that represent thoughts, words and other constant visuals.

My foundation of color and line are influenced by the work done in a studio called Termite Terrace, by artists like Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett and Tex Avery. Through that foundation of color and line, hybrid anthropomorphic characters are constructed to speak of my own roots and their relationship to the world.

These roots are horrifying, constricting and constant
These roots are invisible, invincible and real
These roots are ragged and raging
These roots give life
They can be uprooted and transplanted
Without second thoughts as to how they will react
How they will be treated

Treat these roots as if they are your own
Care for them
Despise them
Revive them

For these roots belong
Belong in your ground, in my ground
To the ancestors and the future
These roots know, no time
They will hear and see more than we ever could imagine
But be careful not to turn your back on these roots
These roots sustain your life

-Billy Welch