I am participating on some group exhibitions this summer, starting tomorrow I will be part of ‘The Fresh Series’ by Cannibal Flower at Thinkspace gallery, These are quite an institution in the art scene in Los Angeles and thus a long time dream coming true for me personally. I will have two pieces showing this month in there; Love Potion Number 69 and The Pursuit of Happiness.
When I was thinking about the overall composition of this piece, I really wanted to borrow from vintage soda ads, I wanted to have that first impression, before you can look into the actual story depicted there. As I had mentioned before the number 69 is a reference to my wife, but I know some people would think it kinky, thus is fun to use, and in this very specific piece, thanks to my wife advice, become the perfect subject for the title which is based on the song 'Love Potion Number 9'.
In my recent artwork, I am bringing the 'Nymph' concept from different folklore and mythologies, with hints of Steampunk and Cyberpunk, keeping a storytelling visual style, the stories varies each piece but the fundamental concept is the same, is a love poem; the human will always fall for the demigoddess beauty, and yet she will devour their souls, isn't malice, is just the nature of such a strong character. These stories are told from the point of view of the demigoddess' loyal servant, the creature that always appears with her, at times a cat, at times a monkey, and everything in between, he is in love with her but she can't see his true heart, which allows him to survive along her side.
In this piece the demigoddess is a forest nymph, she walks only at the first hours of the day, she is like a musical mist that wakes up nature and allows the plants and trees to grow in magical ways, if any human sees her, they will fall in love and lose their souls, which then are used for a potion that helps her materialize while on earth, Love potion Number 69!
The Pursuit of Happiness is pretty much a self portrait. The toy plush monkey is always in the mood for sweets and always thinks in his muse. I am trying to make an statement here where his thinking is depicted in an illustration way, unlike the rest of the painting, and I deliberately left sketch marks on it, since this represents me, it shows that I’m thinking in art while the female beauty and sugar fuels it.
This two paintings are significant in my transitioning from illustration style artwork to a more painterly forms. As I keep looking to what really satisfies me while painting, styles and techniques, I keep switching the stylization of some of the elements, specially the backgrounds, thus these might seem a little different from my coming pieces.
Makes me very happy to know a lot of people will see these in person during the exhibition, check it out if you can, info below, but if you are not in LA, you can check The Fresh Series here
THINKSPACE PROJECTS
4217 W. Jefferson Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90016
(310) 558-3375
contact(at)thinkspaceprojects.com
HOURS
Monday..... C L O S E D
Tues-Sat.....12pm-6pm
Sunday..... C L O S E D
Thank you for reading, its been a minute since last blog post. will try to keep more info and updates coming.