on sanctity, and political art…
Sanctity is the latest in my series, “A Tale As Old As Time,” where I explore aspects of the human condition through diptychs of historically-inspired faux-tapestries. Visually, I was very inspired by one of my long-time favorite works, Unicorn in Captivity, and many art nouveau and art deco book covers. This project was designed to challenge my skills in pattern-making, plants, and animals and indulging in my love for symbolism. Emotionally, painting fables into an imagined historical record has both a sense of finality where a chapter could be closed, and also an expansive infinite, where something important is preserved forever.
Sanctity was created as a positive reaction to my previous piece, Vitriol. Vitriol explores the “victim complex” with compassion. I don’t love this term, because it is rarely used with an acknowledgement that these people usually are very real victims of abuse. And after time, the defense becomes offense. I turned the phrase, “a cornered rat will bite” over in my mouth for months while painting Vitriol. When your entire life feels like a cage, the sensation of vulnerability is a threat deserving of lashing out. And when your “cage” remains, you remain the victim regardless of the hate you spew. “Look what they made me do!” The plants featured in the piece all have associations with negative emotions like rage, jealousy, and possession. A baby chick makes the perfect victim: dyed colors and gifted to children who will inevitably kill them, stored by the dozens in guinea pig cages at the fair. But if you don’t watch out, this one might burn you.
What if vulnerability wasn’t a cage to lash out of, but a sacred and honorable virtue? Sanctity depicts an all-white fawn, curled up, head down, but looking right at you. She is here to welcome you, listen to you, and be open and honest with you. While she is clearly vulnerable, it is her choice as she has wings to carry her away. Were you to happen upon her in the woods and try to harm her; it would not reveal anything about her weakness, but instead reveal the rot in your soul. The plants surrounded her all have correspondences with vulnerability, purity, and connection.
Vulnerability is a gift to receive, and our sacred duty to give one another in the pursuit of connection. Without vulnerability, we are cursed to skim the surface of one another forever. Making a friend takes a risk: a joke, a tear, a touch. And being witness to vulnerability is a blessing. Helping someone gives you the opportunity to contribute , a chance to be redeemed and revealed. The constant power-play of our society, on the micro and macro scale, is eating away at our chance for survival. I pray for the world to extol virtuous vulnerability.
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On political art…
Speaking of my prayers for the world…I have many, and I wish I were able to channel them into sharp political art. I should say, that much of my art is political to me—some of my most popular pieces are about the male gaze and sexual violence. (And see above; everything I work on really is “that deep” to me!) But it doesn’t seem that My Audience is picking up on those themes. And I don’t blame them, they’re buried.
The one time I did make a piece that was received as “political”, I got some press about it! I planned social // structure (2021) with the intention of keeping it as a private work. It was just supposed to be a place for me to process, pray, and hope. Honestly, I worried it was trite, and I didn’t want the way I use astrology as a meaning-making device to be construed as being flippant. But it was taking so much of my time and I was anxious that I hadn’t posted a painting on social media in “too long”, so I put up a couple process videos. My friends were very encouraging. Particularly Cassidy, who asked if I’d show it in the upcoming grief-themed gallery show she was directing. I was very grateful that social // structure was received well at the show, and that the viewers understood exactly where I was coming from. They were there, too. Helpless and hoping. The piece was even featured in a Seven Days article by Gina Tron about the show! This meager success made me think I should work on channeling more overtly political themes into my work.
And yet, every time I sit down with an idea it is the corniest shit. No one needs to see anymore small-dicked Donald Trumps or bloody money or any combination of those words. We’ve seen enough. It’s absolutely infuriating to me that the current political hellscape informs so much of my daily life, and I can’t even seem to make any Good Art about it. I am sure am having FEELINGS. Isn’t that the quintessential job of the artist? To channel emotion into physical works? Well, I’m sucking at it. Just know that I want to! Maybe it’s just still too close, like how in the midst of extreme interpersonal conflicts, I just want to paint crying self portraits. You’ll just have to wade into my personal works a little deeper, lest I unleash slapstick political cartoons on the world.
Derek Zwyer, click thru to IG
Luckily, there are countless artists around us that ARE doing incredibly beautiful and impactful political work. I have been especially moved by fellow Burlington artist, Derek Zwyer’s haunting paintings documenting ICE’s violence in Minneapolis. This representational work was especially striking because I am most familiar with his abstract paintings and photography. I see the hundreds of ways local artists are looking to process the world around them and really appreciate the role of artists as documentarians, storytellings, imagineers. <3
Come see me at the Vermont Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Expo on April 25th and 26th at the Champlain Valley Expo Center! I’ll be selling my limited edition Quark and Odo print titled, Written All Over His Back. It’s my first time at this event, and I hope to connect with new people; but some familiar faces would be lovely, too. <3 Purchase tickets here!
