2019
I created this series of drawings based on Tom Waits’ song ‘What’s He Building’. My dad is a big fan of Tom Waits, so this song always reminds me of him. I took photos of my dad doing some of the things described in the song and made these ink drawings based on them. The gloomy atmosphere of ink reflects the creepy musical atmosphere of the song, but I decided to be very literal with the actual drawings – depicting my dad’s hands as they are and trying to convey the care that he takes with these tasks – as a contrast to the suspicious implications that the song hints at.
My dad is a handyman – he drives a big white van full of tools and has a garage full of even more tools. Almost everything in the lyrics of the song could be about him. He isn’t building anything sinister in his garage though, and it never occurred to me that the man in the song was either. It’s easy to interpret the tiny parts of someone’s life that you see completely incorrectly if you don’t know the whole story.
morgan lawrence 