Ukraine angst has been foremost in my mind of late, so I did more art relating to the war. This is a grade-schooler in any town – Ukraine as the Russians switch tactics from decapitation to the senseless slaughter of civilians. The war needs to stop. #stoprussia
The war in Ukraine is omnipresent in my thoughts; mostly for its humanitarian and global consequences. Although, I am and always will be a supporter of the Russian people, their culture, and language, I side with Ukraine in this pointless conflict. I pray that all the civilians and soldiers on both sides (because soldiers in … Read more
This #digitalart started as a #doodle but because I watch so many saddening #crime shows, it became about #domesticviolenceawareness For the victim, listen, don’t judge, and offer meaningful help. And for gods sake, if you see something say something, like, to 911. #EndViolence
She’ll survive us all. She’s the strongest woman we know, she’s nature. Climate change? She’s survived it. High CO2? Easy. Humans, not so much. But she just may have mercy on us when we’ve wiped ourselves off the face of the planet. Here? A post-human photoshoot. We took her trees, her resources, her valuables, but … Read more
For a few brief moments, there was peace as the battle faded into the distance, she looked around the remains of the building, which had once housed happy children of any town USA, before politics, demagoguery, and all-around hatred, driven home by media sensationalism caused an unrepairable rift in the country. She thought of those who would not see the end of the war, like their brethren in wars past, lives wasted for power brokers who didn’t care about any of them. It was a solemn peacefulness as she remembered squad-mates and their quirks. She then picked up a small bear, and thought of her own child lost very early in the orgy of destruction. She looked at it for a long time before a burst of gunfire rang out blocks away. “Time to go fight,” she sighed, dropping the toy.
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.
This digital artwork originated while I was listening to Amiri Baraka’s “Who Will Survive America?” Although the song originated in the heights of the 1960’s Black Power movement and kind of has race-war overtones, the heart of it is that only those who are not racist will survive the country. P.s. the dude is an amazing jazz musician, but… to the Art – we’re all one people, all red-blooded bags of water underneath, no matter our skin tone, religion, politics, etc. To survive America, we all need to act as one, to lift ourselves out of poverty of the mind, spirit, and body. This creation endeavors to show us who we’ll be when we get over ourselves.
A digital painting for our times. The subject can be anyone in modern America, a veteran, someone with PTSD like a victim of sexual assault, someone financially ruined by medical bills or loss of a job, or a victim of mental health issues or addiction. Homelessness is not discriminatory, it can affect anyone with red blood running through their veins. The sad part is that most people will help a dog or cat out in the cold before they help their fellow man, hence the title.
I had to render this three times. Winter is a challenging thing in digital art. My first render I noticed 1.5 hours after starting it, that I forgot the effect of breathing in winter. It was a challenge to create, I ended up using a cloud with a lot of tinkering. 1.5 hours after the second render, I realized by looking at the reflection in his eyes that there needed to be a figure there to add that Je ne sais quoi, so there is an entire part of the scene you don’t see just to get that reflection. Yes, it’s a bit OCD for something that will be seen by maybe 10 people, liked by 2 🙂
As we head towards a dystopian future where the rich 1% keep the rest of us (the 99%) fighting each other over political and social ideals, while they cart-off the peoples resources under the guise of public service – oh, wait, it’s already happening.
Uh, okay then. I decided to get a little more gritty with the digital artwork – No one is going to hang this on a wall, but I think art can be a record of the times in which one lives, so…
On a micro-scale, this is also about remembering those less fortunate than we; the homeless, the dispossessed, the hopeless drug addict, alcoholics, and those that simply are making due with less.
To me the #holiday season has become less out our fellow humans, and more about unabashed #capitalism (look what I got on Black Friday!), but I we can all do our part to make it a little less grim.
Znamya had no interest in getting involved in the partisan wars raging through the once peaceful land. Traveller after traveller came and went, unable to convince the giant to intercede in the affairs of of the little people. He had retreated to the outer lands as reactionaries spilled into public squares, each accusing the other side of being the worst form of evil, while failing to see their own reflection in their poisonous words. It was not his place to make them see past their respective fishbowls, so, as ballots turned to ballistae he was content looking at the sky and telling each and every one exactly where they could take their politics.
