kunst

Denouement

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I really don’t have anything artsy or insightful to say. I just wanted to create something with the single source strong light, and am ambient light, which was used a lot in Dutch / Northern Renaissance paintings. She’s bloody, she could use a shower, but she’s survived.

Here’s the close-in.

Horror Equality

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So the Friday the 13th series of movies began with a mom mad at counselors for letting her child drown, wanting to prevent this from happening to other children, and going all murder hobo as a result. Since then, the series has been focused on Jason and the creative ways people shuffle off this mortal coil. I re-envisioned Jason’s mother as a 20-something who followed the same path as the original movie. Fan art – yes. Inspiration was actually watching ‘Camp Crystal Lake Memories’ about making the entire series of movies. Honestly, I wasn’t invested in this series until I saw the making of. It’s mostly the passion of the actors that made me want to create this artwork. It won’t win any awards, but it’s certainly plugged in with the times.

A Vespertilian Thing

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She was no Mary Poppins. You felt it right away, there was something off about her, her elegance, how she smiled eerily at your vampire stuffed animal, ironically above you now – “Hold on,” your subconscious screams, “I’m not even old enough to know what irony is!” You begged them to hire anyone but her, but your mum and dad needed an overnight nanny, and they fell for that Sesame Street accent. “Oh, how cutely foreign,” your mom giggled, “privileged wankers!” Your subconscious meekly raises its hand, but you cut it off. “I know!,” you hiss curtly under your breath. Now, In the dark of it all, you’re paying the price. Plus side? Live forever. Negatives? They don’t make sunblock strong enough for what you’ll become. It’s enough to drive one batty!

Waiting for the Bluebell

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The Bluebell is a tree that blooms only once in a 1000 years, it’s bioluminescent flowers both fragrant and beautiful. The sentient tree is shy, however, and pulls its azure petals in tightly when gazed upon, so one must trick it by using a mirror or camera to view it.

Postpartum

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Can art still shock and offend? Can it still cause questions to be asked? Can it drive a conversation? In today’s digital artwork, which for some reason just finished a four-hour rendering (maybe the rig was offended), I explore the dark side of the Romanticism movement. I’ve drawn on David Caspar Friedrich, who IMHO is the nexus of the movement, as well as adding an element of taboo. Of course, the work is dark (sunset plus phones/mobile devices make it harder to see), so pay attention to your surroundings. The point? I read an article yesterday on depression that led me down a rabbit hole, wherein I ended up in the squishy field of Postpartum Depression. Of course, as a man, it’s something I don’t have to deal with, but wanted to do a PSA foe the ladies that if you’re in that pit, you’re not alone. Get it treated before it turns into postpartum psychosis, which happened in this artwork, as all life is precious. Resources abound. SAMHSA’s National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service (in English and Spanish) for individuals and families facing mental and/or substance use disorders. 1-800-662-(HELP) 4357.

Take Me in Your Arms, It’s alright.

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The battlefield, you hate it, yet it’s your job to go. Souls need the guidance to the afterlife. They cry for their mothers, their God, even though if you’d ask them before coming, they were adamantly atheist, but as soon as you arrive, they plead for you to free them from their destroyed bodies. For you are death, the eternal equalizer, and you are there to show mercy for mans folly.

Breakfast at Pharaohs Revenge

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Yesterday I created a piece called “Breakfast at Pharaohs,” you may not remember it. In a nutshell, the Queen took power from the Pharaoh via assassination and posed a-la Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. In today’s artwork, like a ghost-pepper omelette coming back to haunt later in the day, Pharaoh gets his revenge. Today’s teaching moment – don’t eat ghost-pepper omelettes and in a culture heavily based on making sure your actions in this world get you a good spot in the next (such as the ancient Egyptians), make sure that tomb is sealed tighter than a bank vault. Otherwise, you may be screaming for mummy.

Better on a bigger screen

Regret

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This is a painting about wasting time with the wrong person over 18 years and realizing at the end of it all that there’s no chance to find that one true love – she’s a ghost, gone in the corridors of time – the chance has passed, everyone’s jaded, you’ve more memories buried than prospects blooming, there will be no one to electrify every fiber of your being, and that the books and tales of chivalric love were a total lie. Of course you’ll go on, because you still have hope, and you can’t get the morbid irony in death that you can in life, but f**k.

State of the Arts

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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.

Your Brioche

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This is a tongue in cheek doodle stemming from a post I made on a too big for its britches social media site. I was mildly annoyed that a picture of my takeout was getting more interaction than the Art I had poured myself into earlier that day. The post continues to generate all sorts of interesting comments, and so, I was reminded of Queen Marie Antoinette who, in 1789, NEVER said “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” or “Let them eat cake.” (It was fake news floating around since 1660 and first probably, but still probably not true, attributed to the Spanish Princess Marie-Thérèse… Peasants!). Anyway, unlike Marie Antoinette, I’m making that statement, albeit joking (while crying inside). So here’s what you want, artwork focusing on food, with a pseudo-Royal figure in the background. Note, it’s very hard to capture the rolling of eyes of a figure in a single frame 🙂

Full Rehearsal

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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.