I've always had this tendency to want to make big art. Maybe it's because I'm young and have something to prove. Maybe it's just because I can. My freshman year during my undergrad, I made a paper-mache elephant with a classmate and it was about 6 feet tall. It was far bigger than anything else made by the rest of the class. To some extent, it's pushing a boundary. I feel accomplished to make something on a large scale.
My current body of work draws some parallels to the Romantic painters of the early 1800s, who also liked to work on a grand scale. Their huge paintings spoke of the majesty of nature, Manifest Destiny, and the work of man in comparison. I recently completed my large piece of work to date. I made a print that was 6x20 feet. Sometimes, I don't quite realize what I've myself into until it's too late. I printed it on my printer, that is only 24 inches wide, and therefore had to do the print in three long parts. It took over 6 hours to print, and then another 4 hours to assemble. But the affect was perfect. I am quite pleased. Here is a view of this print installed:
The way the print pooled on the floor is intentional. I would have preferred to raise it up about two feet, but I ran into the ceiling. (For some reason 20 feet sounded shorter in my head.) Perhaps having it curve on the top would have helped, but at any rate, I was very pleased by this and am considering using this format again for my current series. It seems appropriate.