I’ve been eye deep in excel this week, so no art, so I decided to make a a video of 2021 art. digitalart #art #kunst #peinture #artwork #cryptoart #cryptoartist from 2021. Themes include #empowerment #fragility & #beauty of #life #nature #selfworth #struggle #acceptance #women #war #dnd #fantasy #scifiart the #psyche etc.
YouTube because somehow the video wouldn’t upload here. It will open in a separate tab.
So I throw all these words out to explain my #art but really, it comes down to mood as the #artwork progresses. This was first focused on #hair – I am not apologetic for objectifying luscious locks – then it moved into the #goth #vampire realm ( #notsorry ) and then setting back into #nature (which I love) – I’ll let you figure out how vampires are #victims and apply that to the damage humans are doing to our madre de #nature. I really shouldn’t even bother with trying to explain it, but for my three fans I will sacrifice :). I mean, it’s not like an influencer like Waagen is going to come along in 250 years and hawk my stuff to wealthy Parisians, while calling it emblematic of the American Golden Age to make a buck. But I digress. Hope you enjoy it.
A legitimate comment sparked this post. I don’t know if the person was just being a social media denizen (where the goal is to tear down) or knew that I always create a scene for my art, with multiple angles worthy of expression to the lens, and decided to coax out another angle from me. … Read more
So Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan (1797) envisioned a pleasure palace with dark undertones. The work was totally influenced by an Opium high. Opium, the Black Tiger, was heavily traded in China, the Tiger of the East. But enough history and Literature – this digital artwork is also heavily influenced by the 1980 movie Xanadu, with Olivia Newton John. “Who,” the younger ones ask? “Get off my lawn!” This movie was iconic in that it introduced me to the Greek Muses. Although they never physically popped out of murals to guide me, stupid childhood dreams, I do reference them occasionally in my work. Now, the artwork didn’t start off as art imitating performing arts, imitating poetry, imitating life – it just kinda developed after the song Xanadu popped up in my disco playlist (I listen to everything). The original concept was to see if I could build a tigers face from performing artists – stupid, I know – boredom does that. I’ll let you tell me if that worked. Anywho, creating this killed a few hours of my life, much like Coleridge and his opium addiction. Hope you enjoy!
This digital art (because what else would it be) started because I was listening to the song of the same name by the Mission UK, off their Carved in Sand Album. Extrapolating from there, I looked up the idiom, butterfly on a wheel, and found that it originated from Alexander Pope’s 1735 poem “Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot.” “But what does it all mean, Basil?” I asked myself in a fake British accent, a-la Austin Powers – meaning my creation, of course. Well, in artsy speak, I’m trying to represent technology breaking the fragile connection of humankind to nature. Notice how she is bound to a gilded wheel, force fed advertising a-la the movie “They Live”, until there is no longer a connection to the beauty which is nature, just outside the glass. You can see a real word comparison in any major city with people walking about staring at their phones, instead of what is around them. There’s other stuff too, like losing ourselves, but I’m getting into to/dr territory, or sounding pretentious. The part I like the most is how the circuit on her face looks like a tear.
A doodle focusing on an iconic pose. Behind every king is a powerful queen. She may look innocent and demure, but true power lies therein.
A doodle in reaction to the current environment for artists. The pandemic thew the community for a loop. It was already under pressure prior to the plague – even being voted the most useless occupation – though you need art to sell products and live in a semi-decent world. Post-pandemic? It will survive, the rich will still use certain artists as tax-shelters, the rest of us artists will still produce, but the point of this artwork is a point in time of how valued we feel. Gone are the patricians and the valuing of craftspersons. So, if you see someone doing this art thing full time (not me, I have to eat) maybe support their arts and/or crafts. P.s. this is best viewed with a full screen, on a phone it’s too dark. Maybe that’s the point as well.
This started as on of the typical full gymnast / ballerina poses to try and box the photo. I then realized I needed another dancer to do that. That worked but it was boring. Then as I was going through the color coordination of the outfits, I was, like, “what if I took the floor away? No one has gotten that shot before.” So I did, and did. Then I was reminded of the scene from ‘Scott Pilgrim Verses the World’ where Wallace is telling Scott that if he really wants the girl, he has to give into the ‘L-word’, to which Scott answers “Lesbian?” and Wallace says “It’s ‘Love’, I wasn’t trying to trick you.” So, I may have incorporated that into the scene. Lastly, I worked on the camera focus, aperture blades and whatnot. So, that’s the process, kind of ho-hum. The result is two interpretative dancers practicing for the stage in the future.
If you didn’t know by now, a lot of my art is inspired by, and moves with, changes in music playlists. I never start with an idea in mind, I just create. I was listening to the 1980’s power-house, Michael Jackson, and my art skewed towards the decade of glam. Who was arguably the most iconic artist of the decade and my first favorite artist? Patrick Nagel. I channeled him and created a “what’s old is new again” composition. The difference? This is 3D. I accomplished the background with a bunch of primitive shapes. So, taking this month out in classic eighties style, I give you Billie Jean.
“Habibi stood looking down at the encampment below. There were too many of them. She could handle maybe 10 at a time, 15 with her horse, but the 100-odd troops below guarding the palace entrance would need something other than a frontal attack. Thoughts raced through her mind. She needed to think of something fast, before her horse decided to eat all of her hair”.
A new digital doodle for you. It’s what I do with the little free time I have.
Queen G’elzanna was becoming impatient with the interlopers from the surface. The under dark was her world. They did not belong, even if they came with gifts. The Drow would not suffer long a ruler who made peace with the surface dwellers. Then one of them blurt out something that intrigued her. The planet was dying, and if that happened, neither surface dweller nor Drow would survive. She decided she would not throw them into the dungeons just yet.
It’s a silly title but I can’t think of another, except untitled, so I’m going with it. It’s yet another portrait of a fantasy beauty. Yawn, right? Okay, but created artwork is worth two in the artists head. Besides, maybe it’s not about the girl at all? Maybe it’s about camera settings, what you can see but can’t see. Maybe it’s a technical exercise. Or maybe it’s art and unapologetically about the girl. That’s the beauty of art.
