Bill Egan creates line drawings and paintings from images found in books and magazines. The key to understanding Egan’s work is the border he often draws around each piece. This border depicts the edges of his source material, and reveals that Egan regards his references as still-life objects. He works in a strict 1:1 ratio, faithfully reproducing the size, as well as photo credits, copyright symbols, printers’ keys and crop marks, torn edges, and other characteristics of the reference, in minute detail. His expressive line, in pencil or ink, is sometimes overlayed with watercolor wash. In 2014, Egan’s Burchfield series, inspired by the landscape paintings of Charles Burchfield, led to his first solo exhibit and retrospective spanning a decade. Egan’s work has been exhibited at Daemen College Arts Center Gallery, Art Space Buffalo Gallery, Burchfield Penney Art Center, the Castellani Art Museum, and WNED’s Horizons Gallery.
