power

Who Will Survive America?

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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.

The Princess

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A person with flowing red fabric behind them poses dramatically over a table with a candle in a holder. The person has wavy grayish hair and a fierce expression. The background is neutral, emphasizing the dynamic fabric and candle.

The muse of painting has deserted me. I’m not sure when she’ll be back. No worries, her sister the muse of digital artistry is alive and well!

I’ve been doing digital work for about a month, and have already become quite prolific. All of my work is available on my Instagram feed @robmedleyart. I’ll be posting those creations here over the next few days.

My latest work is entitled “The Princess.” It’s about incorporating and celebrating women of color into classic fairy-tales, which seem to be boringly cast full of white characters. There’s so much diversity in the world that I find it tragic our folklore doesn’t follow suit.

Anyway, there are two versions of the Princess. The first one I thought was super beautiful, but in discussing her with my friends, found that I was buying into tropes that were tired and dated.

So, I went back to the virtual drawing board. I’m much more pleased with the results of version two.

Both are beautiful, but I feel there is more going on in the latter and the scene feels more alive.