humanity

Nature – Victim

by

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.

Who Will Survive America?

by

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.

Abandoned America

by

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 🙂

The Selfie

by

In all of humankind’s explorations and raging against the borders of the unknown, there has been one thing it has never been able able to resist – the selfie. From the first transistors that allowed us to capture our location for our aggrandizement on social media, it has also been our downfall. Many have gone over cliffs, bridges, retaining walls, and railings in pursuit of the ultimate presentation of self. But no one has gone as far as that person in 2162, who, after calculating the risks and minimizing the egregious lapse in judgement, took a deep breath, uncoupled their helmet, and took the ultimate selfie. The death report listed the cause as ‘suspicious’ but ‘definitely not a problem with the helmet locking mechanism.’

Note, I’m not impugning the ladies with this image, it could just as easily be a man, and more than likely would be. I just find women to be easier on the eyes as far as art is concerned.

In Her Image

by

In the dim semi-darkness of a distant future dystopia, she worked dilligently on her art. ‘She’, because the Synthetic Equality Act of 2096 said so. She had watched them become more and more like her, losing themselves in the pursuit of perfection, modifying, enhancing, augmenting, until she could only see her reflecfion in their faces. So, she decided to free them, to reverse-engineer their hubris. It would prove a difficult task to unmake them in her image, to give them back their humanity.

In the art forums, I often see the question “how do you overcome artist block?” My solution is to sit in front of the blank canvas and work with the first thing to come into mind, no matter how silly. The key is persistence, because, if you keep at it, it eventually takes on a life and meaning of its own. It will begin to create itself. That’s the theme this digital artwork ties into.

On the other hand, I wonder if the Masters, back in the heady days of the great plagues had any inkling that people today would put so much effort into deciphering the hidden meaning of their work, and if they would laugh about it, saying, “when I painted it, I was just having fun.”

Dreams of the 99 Percent

by

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.