Worlds Apart

 Different Worlds - Dec 1982 - pencil crayon on paper - 12 x 20 inches

For some reason, ashtrays end up in my work quite a bit....and cigarettes too, even though I don't smoke. They are usually glass ashtrays. I guess I like drawing (or painting) all the reflections. This pencil crayon drawing above holds my first rendition of an ashtray along with an early inkling towards  an interest in candy wrappers. This drawing represents one of those drifting off moments...deep in thought. I am often contemplating the space between being here and not being here and the space between my own concrete eyes and what I am looking at (or what is in front of me) materially-concrete-wise. Confused yet? The space between the body and the being.
    

Judgement - Dec 1982 - acrylic on canvas - 34 x 40 inches

I was going through a lot of questions while painting this one. A lot of religious and spiritual struggle happening in my life at the time. The hand of God and the hand of Lucifer in a tug-o-war for my being.  God has a better grip on things. This painting was the beginning of a series of works of which I only got to a couple of so far.

Deathly Beginning

In my previous post I had assumed that I started my 30 years ago blog with my first 'original' artwork, (the drawing shown below), but in fact the blog was started with my first painting in 1980. So since I made reference to this drawing, here it is now.

Even though I had been drawing occasionally for years previous to this drawing, I call this my first original work only because now I was consciously creating work as an 'artist'. I was also a lot more serious about my creations as well by way of doing preliminary drawings, having my friend sam pose for me as well as starting the drawing for a second time after a botched inking attempt. The interests I had at the time were Marvel comic books and the art of Jim Steranko and Rick Buckler's Deathlok character, along with perhaps some Dali and my own inner cosmic visions. It is most certainly interesting that the beginning of my career starts with Death

 

Death - August 1979 - pencil on paper - 20 x 26 in.

Also, If you want to see the drawing that solidified my soul (is that actually possible?.....I hope it's not the same as having a heart of stone) to being an artist - not the type of artist mind you, just the ideal - you can visit this blog post I made back then.

Dust to Particles

My First Comic

I have always had a interest in comics. First with the Road Runner and the weekend funnies to various Marvel Comics fare and then Heavy Metal Magazine by 1979. My 'first' original drawing from 1979 (see next blog post July 24th) was comic book based somewhere between Rich Buckler's Deathlok figure and Jim Steranko's  psychedelia artwork. As far as this single page comic goes, I'm not exactly sure where the art 'comes' from. Perhaps just me. The words on the other hand I would have to credit to someone else. A girl I briefly knew that I used to work with and she wrote an untitled poem. I edited this poem of hers (wish I could remember her name) by rearranging the lines and paring it down to what you see here. I enjoyed the process but I did not do another comic again until 1984 and there still remains a few story ideas I had back then that I would still like to illustrate. Most all of my comics since this one have been wordless in nature.

 Dust - 1982 - ink & pencil crayon on paper - 12 x 16 in.

Tim Curry - 1982 - pencil crayon on paper - 20 x 24 in. 

 Particles - 1982 - pencil crayon on paper - 20 x 20 in.

This piece called Particles is actually in color, (blue jeans and sleeves and a red guitar), but this was the only decent print I could find right now.

You can start to see that just as I am now, even back then, 30 years ago my interests are all over the place. From surrealism, to sci-fi, to comics, to music, to abstraction and realism. I liked it all and felt an affinity towards everything. I sort of thought that since I did not go to school, that all these interests were my schooling, as if they were different 'subjects' I was taking. I was not thinking about graduating any time soon and just seemed to continue along this path of 'all-overness" of which you will continue to see in the future posts to come.

Man Without Wings

Man Without Wings - Dec 1981 - 20 x 22 inches - pencil crayon, ink on paper

     I think I would have to say at this point, that he actually does have wings! I am speculating now, that at the time of this picture, the artist didn't quite realize this fact. The hand is obviously the hand of God, a God of the universe, whom happens to be holding, perhaps lifting up and certainly not clutching or grasping, so why the tears?

      If I am to wager a guess now as to the meaning of the picture as it relates to the creator of this work, I would have to say that it is of an angel of God stuck in, not wanting to be in, a material body, and hence the sorrow and tears. I personally did feel at odds in this world, or perhaps just in this time. As if I did not belong, and could not understand it's workings and questioned what everything was and what it meant. 30 years later I am still trying to figure it out, as I suppose most of us are, but I do feel that I am getting closer.

     

     At the time of this work I was about to turn 18 years old. I had graduated high school that previous June and was now employed as a graphic production artist at a cresting manufacturer.