Mickey in Ultramarine Pyramids

• Size: 14″ x 14″ x 1.5″
• Substrate: Canvas
• Medium: Ink and Acrylic

Showing my initial two pieces to Disney Fine Art (Rainbow and Diamond Grid), it was suggested that we move forward with a few more, because my head was spinning with ideas. The only problem with those ideas (which I did not communicate to them) was that every idea I had seemed to be renditions of something I had already done. I’m incredibly critical of my work, and one thing I fear more than anything, is comfort and regurgitated brand identity. I may be saying this now because I relate comfort to stagnancy and granted I’m sure there is something to work out there thats all my own issue. but when it came to this project…. Well I really wanted to go beyond geometrics and circles and rainbow bursts.

I thought about how I could move further into this. I decided to take a trip to San Francisco to get out of my head. Generally in states like I get into, the firm way to resolve them, is to pull myself from my surroundings, travel outside of my element with my work, and paint elsewhere. I find that whatever environment I am in, that is not my home, I tend to be inspired more, so San Francisco was my option.

Back when I was there, I stayed in my old apartment which resides off of 8th and Natoma in SOMA (South of Market), with my old roommates whom I still keep in touch with. Every time I go back there, I remember myself in the first throes of painting again, when I had taken 7 years off due to advised criticism in college. I sat down in the basement for a second which used to be my old painting studio and just thought about what to paint.

When I closed my eyes I was expecting something swirling and expansive in pattern, but what came out was unexpected. It was, the theme song to “The Super Mario Brothers” video game, which was released in the prime of my childhood in 1985. Suddenly I am reminded of being obsessed with the videogame. I would be in school and the only thing I could think about was going back to home to open up my NES to play that game again. That game was such an escape in my youth.

I began to think past just that memory and furthered into the design of the game. Back then, they had a limited palette of sound and noise. … and designers at this time for side scrolling games such as this one, really had to be creative in making 3d design in such a 8bit world. I specifically remember this pyramid pattern, and redrawing it over and over in class, on notebooks, on homework, anything..really.. Because I was so mesmerized by the ability of shadowing to create a 3d reference, AND IT WAS NINTENDO, not an art teacher, that actually taught me that technique.

This is the first out of the series.