- Published on
Matter Yearning For Meaning
LISTEN to the blog by clicking the DOWNLOAD link above
"Matter Yearning For Meaning" - oil on Yupo, 18.5 x 24 inches. This item is sold unmounted and unframed. (click on the image to purchase)
Here we are, matter yearning for meaning, each of us a fragile constellation of chemistry and chance hurtling through a cold cosmos that has no accord for our wishes, takes no interest in our dreams. - MARIA POPOVA
There's this thing about aging. A shift in mind and sense of place in the world that makes very clear what a fragile constellation of chemistry and chance we are. The chemistry of my body and brain is responsible for many wondrous (and a few frustrating) things. That chemistry can allow feelings of exuberant joy and also deep sadness and fear.
And don't get me started on chance. Where I am, what I do, who is near to me and how I think about all of it is so much an amalgamation of chance happenings and situations. We don't choose our parents. We don't choose our genetic make-up. We don't choose much of anything about the direction of our lives until we near adulthood. And even then - how much of our choices are truly choice vs a continuation of patterns and paths or completely random encounters and events?
And so, in a truly happenstance conflagration of chemistry and chance, I recently found myself in a heroic, therapeutic psilocybin journey which left me even more aware of the fragility of that entire constellation and the brevity of all that is. Oh!
And so, in a truly happenstance conflagration of chemistry and chance, I recently found myself in a heroic, therapeutic psilocybin journey which left me even more aware of the fragility of that entire constellation and the brevity of all that is. Oh!
About the art: continuing an exploration of a mash-up of robot and human as in the ballgown bot series, except this time exposing the vulnerable flesh of humanness with the slight augment of the cyborgian (is that a word?). The goal with this piece was to embrace the neutrality of the figure coloring and allow the background and the robotic arm pieces to be the only obvious color. As always, the Yupo allows an easy, relatively rapid layering of oil paint, and also the ability to carve back through it (the background design elements and the artist's signature) to expose a pale pink underpainting. This piece just oozes strength and bold badassery to me. Yaaaaasssss please.
Congratulations to Dotty and Marta! Wonder Mike chose your names at random as winners of the August Reader Giveaway! Send your mailing addresses to Wonder Mike at thewanderingsoflola@gmail.com and your free art will be shipped to you lickety split! And thanks so much to all who participated. A new contest begins next month! Hooray!
As usual you speak right to my heart! I've been thinking a lot lately about who I truly am versus who I am because I was brought up that way. I want to keep exploring that idea because the world does a lot to keep us in a tidy confining box. I want my choices to be authentically me. There is so much to consider in this realm of thinking and so many possibilities.
Life really is such a strange mix of magic, opportunity and luck. I identify with the changes of getting older and realizing what a delicate weave our bodies are. It's definitely something you appreciate more as you age and realize how everything has an effect on you.
I am so happy you created this piece! It's such an incredible mixture. I love how it's a variation of your ballgown bots! She is stripped down, but has such power and is in absolute control. She would confront everything with determination and no doubt succeed in any mission! I love the confidence! On a side note she reminded me so much of "Battle Angel Alita". It was a manga that my husband read back in his youth that he introduced me to many moons ago!
I do look forward to your weekly posts! I get a dose of artistic inspiration and nugget of human wisdom to think on. Many thanks for both. Another great painting. You move so easily between abstract landscapes and figures.
Now I’m off to find that stash of yupo paper. I know it’s around here somewhere.
Carl
This idea of individuating ourselves post-upbringing and life experience is powerful. We DO have choices if we look for them. And chances to leap toward something heart-centered if we want to. I'm working on thinking in new ways, and cannot wait to see where it leads.
I will look up Battle Angel Alita! Intriguing!!!
The shoulders! The turn of the head! The glow of pink backlighting the hair! Your own empirical awareness of the fragility of that entire constellation and the brevity of all that IS. Oh!
---
All that, and Wonder Mike's choosing my name for a giveaway, too. Chance!!!
You have my address, yes?
And Wonder Mike said to tell you he's selected something just for you - a thing (or two) you can use as fodder for your own art. Wink wink.
Can you tell me more about what Yupo and why you love it. I'm not a painter and I am curious.
Yupo is like a thick paper with a slick coating on it...it does not warp or bend easily and is non-absorbent. So whatever you put on it slides and slides if you want it to. And with oils, since they remain wet for a bit, you can carve back through it quite easily. Paper and canvas and wood have a "tooth" to them that can make precision more challenging, and most definitely makes strategic removal of paint more difficult. Building layers is faster on Yupo, since it doesn't absorb the paint.
I've known some water media painters who create incredible abstract work with Yupo, using inks, watercolor and acrylics and allowing them to move on the substrate. With watercolor and inks, however, you must use a spray fixative between layers on the Yupo, or they will just keep sliding. It's pretty wild!