The Pessimist
Language bearers, Photographers, Diary makers
You with your memory are dead, frozen
Lost in a present that never stops passing
Here lives the incantation of matter
A language forever.
Like a flame burning away the darkness
Life is flesh on bone convulsing above the ground
-E. Elias Merhige. 1991
(detail from Tag 33 project)
Collaboration with Craig Turner
Uranus
(2010)
Dimensions: 11″x14″
Medium: Graphite pencil, acrylic paint, spray paint, and bristol paper on canvas
(ll. 176-206) And Heaven (Uranus) came, bringing on night and longing for love, and he lay about Earth spreading himself full upon her.
Then the son from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father’s members and cast them away to fall behind him. And not vainly did they fall from his hand; for all the bloody drops that gushed forth Earth received, and as the seasons moved round she bare the strong Erinyes and the great Giants with gleaming armour, holding long spears in their hands and the Nymphs whom they call Meliae all over the boundless earth. And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were swept away over the main a long time: and a white foam spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden. First she drew near holy Cythera, and from there, afterwards, she came to sea-girt Cyprus, and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Her gods and men call Aphrodite, and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she grew amid the foam, and Cytherea because she reached Cythera, and Cyprogenes because she was born in billowy Cyprus, and Philommedes because sprang from the members. And with her went Eros, and comely Desire followed her at her birth at the first and as she went into the assembly of the gods. This honour she has from the beginning, and this is the portion allotted to her amongst men and undying gods, — the whisperings of maidens and smiles and deceits with sweet delight and love and graciousness.
Excerpt from The Theogony of Hesiod
(circa 700 BC)
Like much of my artwork, this piece has a three dimensional aspect to it. I used fire to alter the surface of the canvas, burning holes, charring the edges and curling the openings out toward the viewer. A form of destructive “action painting”, necessary in an attempt to illustrate the story of Mighty Uranus from traditional lore. It is believed that the Judeo-Christian god is directly derived from the Greek god Uranus (Roman named Caelus). I listened to this recording of sounds from NASA’s Voyager craft taken from EM waves of the planet Uranus and was completely taken away into the mythology…..I could hear a lonely anger, as if the planet was indeed alive.
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Mickey Exhumation Sketch
In 1938, his tiny body was placed with the utmost care into a silk-lined matchbox coffin, then buried, only to be exhumed 8 months later and placed on a bookshelf by the grieving Walter Disney. Upon sliding open the matchbox cover, several of the “special” Disney staff members remarked at how well his body had remained intact, almost as if he was just still sleeping.
What else can I say……it’s charcoal, pencil, pigment pens, acrylic, and spray paint on 24″x36″ canvas
. Here are the sketches that I used to develop the concept.
About three years ago, I put down about five pages of sketches that I am still realizing and developing, and will continue to do so for several years to come. Some of the ideations have changed dramatically while they were further developed and some changed very little from the original thumbnail sketches. My training as a designer directs my fine art approach; I simply cannot stand in front of a canvas and start painting. I require a purposeful concept to build upon. An approach that is completely polar opposite of say surrealism or abstract expressionism. There is a certain amount of dada absurdism throughout that sketchbook of ideas.
I do not use models or photographs for my art, so these pieces often end up being almost self-portrait since I draw based my own anatomical features. After reading Treasure Island a few years back (for the first time!), I imagined the character Long John Silver looking about like this (minus the huge juicy tits of course).
Cunt Stinkula
This painting that I worked on from late 2008 to early this month (2010), crystallizes my artistic approach. The concept was rotating ’round in my mind for many years, though early attempts at it were too photo-real for my likes. The piece is a way of projecting my attitude outwardly, in a way that only visual art can do. The word “Hello” was in the design to be written across the top, right up until I signed the work and called it finished. After staring at it for several weeks, I decided that a less direct approach was more appropriate and the white field stayed blank.
Back in 1992 when I was a design student, I sculpted and casted a chimp in foam latex around a metal (stop-motion) armature. This bit of ape anatomy study really served well since the drawing mostly just came from memories and few online reference images. I would not label my work as figurative, since I hate art that resembles realism too much. There should not be anything realistic about it, just a flippant gesture from me to you.
