Before relocating to Portland, Oregon, riding through western Philadelphia on the elevated train was a regular part of my life. From those windows I could see decaying buildings and machinery, tangles of aging wire and seemingly endless arrays of outmoded TV antennae. These sights were simultaneously repulsive and beautiful to me.

The term Sequelae is defined as an abnormal condition resulting from a previous disease. To me, urban decay is the outcome of human infection. As dark as that may seem at first glance, I was trying to show that this reality is both monstrous and appealing at once.

“Sequelae” and “S.L.S.” (Scan Lines Sequelae) are two different approaches to the same concept:

– The “Sequelae” works feature traditionally drawn figures and are completed without the use of computers.

– The “S.L.S.” works replace the figure with a captured analog TV image of news from that day. These frames were shot with a smart phone and immediately uploaded to a blog that served as an open image morgue. Single images were then laser printed and finished with india ink and blade scratching.

I made these works because I felt that being aware of the darkness and the light of our First World lifestyle is important as we go into the future.

Jonathan Canady, 2013