I threatened on my Facebook Art Page to talk about this series I am talking about today. I have been working on what I am calling the Madame Butterfly series (this is subject to change). I have seven installations now and am working on an eighth. They are taking on a life of their own. I did not know what they were about in the beginning, I thought I did, but I was wrong.
I learned a long time ago, when the muse speaks, obey. It takes artists a long time to realize they are often their biggest enemy. When I get out of my way, good things can happen. So, I did, get out of my own way. I have been painting (digitally). I usually start out with an idea of where I think I am taking the work and think I know how to get there. This is always the time that she (yes my muse is feminine) grabs the paintbrush and says hold on bitch, I am in control now-do as I say. And, I do! Others, I look at some of my older work and still do not know what it means. But this is okay, the art will reveal itself eventually. In the mean time, I enjoy hearing what my art means to you. The depths of these emotions are personal, intense, profound and always touching. Thank you for being willing to open up and share. That is never an easy thing.
“I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want to own.”
Andy Warhol
So, what exactly is going on with these art pieces? My original intention was to have a series of the same but different women. A simplified continuation of my painted ladies from 2019. But I felt compelled to use the same image repetitively and only changing the colors, patterns and shapes. I’d recently read an article where someone was talking about the countries serious political and racial discord, BLM, etc. and they reminded us all that we are only ONE RACE, the HUMAN RACE. I have been heartsick watching, reading and listening to all the evil vitriol that we have been expelling at one another. The shock and outrage we’ve all felt about the recent insurrection attempt, as powerful people play tidily winks with the our lives-seemingly without care or remorse. Then, the impending nervousness for the inauguration today had everyone on edge. Meanwhile, I am on number four in my series. Then I suddenly begin to realize that this is the message unfolding in my art. Using the same image over and over, but only changing little things like the colors, patterns and shapes.
You know, those little things/details that make us an individual. ♥️
“To me, these are the good old days not because they’re good, but because we are alive to experience and to change them.”
Barbara Kruger
Barbara Kruger’s deeply conceptual and politically oriented body of work....Kruger’s images are typically sourced from magazines and other widely circulated media.... appropriated images, she appends aphorisms and witty quips such as “Your Body is a Battleground” and “I Shop Therefore I Am,” intended to both seduce and accuse the viewer. These often-aggressive texts and the jarring black, white, and red palette of many of her works urgently implore the viewer to examine his or her own relationship to not only the piece itself, but also the visual culture it participates in, which is linked to consumerism, feminism, and classism.... Read article here: Barbara Kruger
Be. The. Change.
Until next time. Peace,
