Friday, July 3, 2015

Women and Girls 2 - Pastel 112 - The Ventriloquist


This began to emerge one evening earlier this week.  Then I had a business trip, got home around 1:30 AM last night, only slept about 3 hours, and when I went out to the garage to continue this, before anyone else woke up, this was the result.

These images are not driven from my conscious mind - they come from deeper and murkier places.  I'm learning to listen and provide expression, but I don't always understand the results in ways I can explain.  In the case of this image, I feel unease, anger, and guilt around who's telling whom.  Who is the ventriloquist?  Where are the words coming from?  What is that snake?  Why only a spine and bust?  Is the ring significant?  Is that snake his other arm?  Some of these things might seem to have simple answers, but I'm not sure at all.  I feel like I've been all three of these figures, but mostly the guy in the middle.  I'm not happy about that.  I try not be be any of this, but I doubt my ability to detect when I am.

I feel like the inner artist is sending me disturbing messages.  If they resonate with you, please let me know.

Just for the record, I believe social pressures do all sorts of good and bad to nearly everyone.  At the moment I am having a lot of emotion around what happens to women and girls in our society and other cultures around the world.

Ball point, Sharpie, and pastels on brown kraft paper - 24 x 18 inches

1 comment:

susan said...

The images in this series definitely do resonate for me as well. Although I would seriously miss having access to the internet there's no doubt in my mind it's a large part of the reason why the common denominator of social discourse has sunk so low. At the same time I must admit this is far too big a subject for any one sentence conclusion.