I've just emerged from one of my worst depressions in a while, which in the scheme of things is nothing compared to what a lot of my friends deal with on a daily basis. Nihilism just doesn't feel right with me. This depression coincided with an artistic lull, and by the time I got back in the studio I felt like being more experimental. This is what happened:
"Christ Died for Your Chocolate"
here are some details:
This is a large scale (about 2 x 5 feet?) multimedia piece consisting of acrylic, latex, bubble wrap, charcoal, chalk pastel, polyurethane, spray paint, and a milk chocolate flavored cross. This last bit seemed super sacrilegious when I saw it at the local Dollar Tree, so I bought two. Feeling blasphemous after having listened to the audio version of Richard Dawkins' "The God Delusion," and watching various documentaries featuring Dawkins, I felt like the time was right to use it. This is, as you may have noticed, a break from my more recent work. I think it will be to my advantage to not box myself into a "style" at 22.
It was brought to my attention during my final critique several weeks ago with two of my instructors, that instead of churning out a bunch of "$600 paintings," I should focus my energy and make a few "$6,000 paintings." While the analogy doesn't sit well with me, and the instructor apologized several times for it, he got his message across. This is the result of condensing my efforts over the course of a week into a single piece. I started last Thursday, and finished this morning. It comes in at about 60" x 24" and consists of Latex, acrylic, sharpie, spraypaint and oil on MDF Panel. And before you ask, the answer is no...this does not actually cost six grand.
