- Size: 14″ x 14″ x 1.5″
- Substrate: Canvas
- Medium: Acrylic
The last piece “Together We Are Separate” (No. 33), was about the dichotomy of feeling both disconnected and together at once. This was more or less resulted personally from what I can’t see chromatically, and what I could paint formulaically. In doing so, I decided to further the direction (No. 34), and create Mickey in reverse colors (White Mickey, Black Background), and create an opposite to the previous achromatic rainbow, into actual ribbon strips of multiple colors.
Explanation:
As I learned to swim with my peers in the pool of art, I began to regain a sense of clarity and balance. I emerged as a new artist at Disney Fine Art with an arsenal of work, as I had created this multiple piece collection as an initial pitch to be accepted and represented. Being that I had nothing to build on but up, you’d think that I’d have a sense of balance, but that wasn’t necessarily the case. For the most part, I hadn’t been in a collective group whatsoever, and in fact I primarily always worked as a party of one even for my group shows previous to Disney. My work had been kind of the… not necessarily SORE thumb, but a bright eye searing neon thumb in the shows that I had been previously showcased in. I wasn’t an ODD DUCK, per se, just a … FLUORESCENT DUCK. Being that said, I never had much to compare myself to, and I suppose thats where I didn’t grow from my work. When you niche your style, and don’t… really compare or look to compare your work to, you tend to remain stagnant in your craft.
Now that I had this group that I was a part of, and we all painted the somewhat same body of work, I had nothing but to compare and grow from. Initially I was a little intimidated by my color deficiency, but what I had come to realize, was that through my understanding fundamentally and formulaically of color, that I may have had a fighting chance to remain at Disney Fine Art through the ‘storytelling’ of color. This is where I thrived.
This is what this piece is about. No. 34 is titled “Divided We Are Polychromatic”, which is a part of the “Battle of the Senses” series. This piece also reflects the separation of the self, much like N0.33 “Together We Are Separate”. It however is different in that ‘color’, the one thing I struggle with, is the VERY connecting force that keeps my body of work and myself together. So while I may be a fluorescent duck, I’ve come to know that it is perfectly okay to be one. And MOST importantly, that my strongest handicap is not my weakness, but my strength in the heart of all things.