Untitled

(Untitled) Acrylic on Canvas

I began doodling random shapes and patterns while resting in Costa Rican hammocks. It was a deliberate exercise in opening up and letting go of intentions and expectations. No judgement was cast as I moved swiftly between designs. I decided to take a stab at painting some of these symbols on canvas with acrylic paint.

I’m not sure exactly what this piece is meant to signify, but I feel the style captures a nice balance between my love of neo-tribalism and graffiti art.

(No Title)

Last painting of the year! No breakdown needed, as the heart is a universal symbol and image. Would love to hear other’s interpretation though!

Peace & Love!

Hopi Mask

Once again, a long dry spell of painting inactivity has impacted my productivity over the last several weeks. The ubiquitous culprit (work) can’t be blamed for all my creative blockage. I’ve found myself in states of uninspired and lethargic moods lately. It could be due to the excessive amount of work I’m consumed with at the moment, which has left me with very little downtime.

I’m the sort of person that needs healthy amounts of downtime in relation to professional work in order to get into my artistic “groove.” My philosophy on creating art is that one needs enough emotional and psychic space (or current day buzzword: “bandwidth”) in order to be inspired and/or produce work. I can’t create when my back is up against a wall (in terms of limited leisure time available).

The Thanksgiving (or T-Day as I like to call it due to the sociocultural foundation surrounding the holiday) break this past week allowed me ample time to decompress, reflect, and finally paint. As mentioned in my earlier post, I’ve reached a road block in my creative process where I far too easily slip into an overly analytical state prior to creating. The dreaded analysis paralysis has kept me from starting projects due to the unnecessary over thinking related to potential subject matter, infinite amount of color palettes available, and general composition of said elements. Classic artist’s anxiety right? Maybe. I think it has more to do with the lack of free time I have. Since it’s a scarce resource right now, I get hung up on wanting to produce a piece I’m happy with since I’m unsure when I’ll be able to paint next.

That’s a longwinded way to arrive at the composition above. I’ve always been a fan of Afrobeat music. So I was in my car listening to some Fela Kuti and I thought about painting an African tribal mask. I quickly googled images related to African tribal masks and came across Hopi masks instead. The amazing pastel hues immediately caught my attention and I changed plans right on the spot. This selection was wholly haphazard and unintentional. What’s ironic is that I finished the painting (amazingly in 2 days) on Thanksgiving. I took a step back and reflected on the idea that maybe I subconsciously painted this to make a statement about the historical and tragic significance inherent in the holiday. Or it could have been sheer coincidence. Either way, I got it done and didn’t let overthinking get in my way.

Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise Flower)

With little time left these days to paint (and even less time to come up with ideas to paint), inspiration has become a luxury. So instead of wasting precious time on subject matter conceptualization, I looked to Swetha’s most recent post TRANSITION: A JOURNAL / PART THREE for inspiration.

Finding inspiration in her post wasn’t hard. Her multitude of drawings/entries reminded me to “just do it.” Analysis paralysis is real, and something I am learning to let go of. Looking at all her drawings/entries inspired me to just create (instead of getting hung up on developing a perfect concept or composition).

This is painting of a Bird of Paradise flower or Strelitzia.

Enjoy!

Karana Mudra

The Karana Mudra is said to expel demons and remove obstacles such as sickness or negative thoughts.

The obstacles in my life are usually perceived ones, fabricated and exaggerated by the depths of my mind’s imagination. I make use of this potentially destructive foe by turning it into an artistic ally. Instead of letting my negative thoughts get the best of me, I acknowledge them, sit with them, then use them for something positive.

This painting is a very literal symbol of protection from those negative thoughts that pop up from time to time in my life.

Ultra Violent

This piece is called ‘Ultra Violent.’I specifically chose the imagery to represent a very dark mood I was in.

Over the years, I’ve learned that you have to embrace all emotions. I used to try to ignore or suppress uncomfortable feelings. Distractions are temporary (like Netflix, drinking, or working out), and sooner or later you have to face whatever is bothering you. Instead of running away from the things that repel us, we must go towards what hurts.

Sitting with those icky emotions makes them less sticky and more temporary. It’s kind of like ripping off a bandaid. If you ignore the task of ripping it off, you may induce anxiety of the act. Instead, even though you know it will hurt, you just have to rip it off. Once you do, you realize that it wasn’t that bad.

Take sadness as an example. With this emotion you just have to sit with it and become comfortable with it. Instead of trying to pretend like your not sad, familiarize yourself with your current mood’s contours and textures. How does it feel? If it had a color, what color would it be? When have you felt this way before? Having an understating of these emotions will help define its limitations and make them more fleeting.

This is totally just my opinion of course. The painting above was inspired by an angry phase I was going through. I tapped into it and guess what? That feeling is now gone.

Lovers

I like love. It’s an interesting concept. Relationships are also very interesting. I’m especially intrigued by the concept of partner selection and monogamy.

For example, some people choose as a partner and up marrying someone from their own hometown without ever having lived in another city, state, or country. Compatibility is one facet of partner selection, which can be defined as shared set of mutual and/or complementary lifestyles, values, or interests.

Based on that very specific criteria, isn’t it kind of absurd to think that the person selected in your hometown is the most compatible individual for you (since it’s a matter of probability: less people you’re exposed to = less pool of potential compatible individuals)? One might argue that absolute compatibility isn’t the goal, but isn’t getting along a very crucial element to relationship success? Maybe it’s my assumption that compatibility equates to getting along, but it seems like people who share something have a vested interest in it and may be more inclined to protect it. Therefore, the more you have in common the more you will likely get along.

I find myself playing out these mental exercises from time to time. Love is an amazing topic to try to deconstruct because there are so many variables to consider. However, the above painting is not a meta analysis of love. It’s just my rendering of two images I found online, which I believe to be medieval in nature (I could be wrong). I felt the concept embodied the light pillowy feeling of love coupled with the stern seriousness of commitment, which is my perception of what relationships are.

Three Graces

There are three goddesses in Greek mythology known as the Graces. They generally represented grace, charm and beauty (alongside other attributes). Aglaia represented elegance, brightness and splendor.Thalia represented youth, beauty and good cheer. Euphrosyne represented mirth and/or joyfulness.

I’m finding that my daily meditation practice is allowing me to live in the moment more and to let go of a lot of overly unnecessary thinking. This has had a profound effect on my art. It’s easier to come up with ideas to paint these days. And although 99.9% of them never turn out the way I planned, I’m o.k. with that and look forward to creating the next batch. This painting represents my interpretation of the Three Graces.

Intuition – Sculpture of a Woman

As I get older, I find myself attempting to fine-tune my intuition. Whether it’s through daily meditation or simply walking on a treadmill with my eyes closed, I’m practicing shutting off one internal sensory mechanism and learning how to just feel. This is more of an emotional exercise above all else. As a very visual person, I am easily swayed emotionally and psychologically by the things I see around me. Closing my eyes for a period of time allows me to just feel without it being the reaction of an after-thought or knee jerk reaction to visual stimuli. To me, this is what intuition is all about.

This is a random painting I made based on a photograph of a female sculpture. There’s no complex explanation about the subject matter; it’s simply what I just felt like painting. My intuition helped me create this painting.

Greek Slave

My life has been extremely busy yet again. However, I like to (idealistically) adhere to the saying “nobody has time for this and that, one has to make time for this and that.” My this is painting. My that is blogging about painting. I need to get back into the groove of posting, as it keeps me artistically accountable to myself. I’m going to try and post more of my stuff, since I have been painting, I just haven’t been posting much.

This piece is a rendering of the sculpture ‘Greek Slave.’ I thought the imagery of a shackled woman was overly compelling and brought about massive socioeconomic and sexist implications. I abhor slavery, which prompted me to juxtapose this vile institution with hopeful symbolism. I chose cherry blossoms in the foreground to accentuate the probability of freedom. The vibrant petals are a sharp contrast to the muted tones of the sculpture, which is meant to highlight freedom as an overriding theme among the shackles of greed and lust.