Ascorbic Acid and Dragons

The dragons were smart and didn't play out all of their fantasies, instead they kept them inside and made it out of this world alive.

Re: Arm Severing and Masculine Pride

Their lines are tough to mend but you just have to wait and you will get your kick in there. If they kick you first its okay, you just keep it up like your masculine pride depends on it. Like you would rather cut off your hand then to accept that sort of weakness.

Dystopia! Dystopia! Dystopia!

DYSTOPIA!
The Work of Jeremy Geddes and Jean-Pierre Roy

A new thing, which is kind of cool to me, is this trend of dystopian realism in painting. These painting are usually always perfect. Not necessarily photographic, but with modulations in color that capture reflections and tricks of light and texture that are just real. The surreal images, room for imperfection,  and breakdown of forms scream "I am a painting and that is what I was meant to be!" But, they do so without being caught up in brushstroke and overbearing color in the way modernist painting was.

But, before I go crazy with  having too many things to say, I'm going to narrow in on color. These two painters are sensitive to color in a way I aspire to be. That is, sensitive to the smallest changes which are usually processed and disregarded by the subconscious. There is something overwhelmingly moral about being that attune to detail. But also the manipulation of color in these two painter's work are different. And those subtle differences contribute to the meaning of each. Which I will tell you about now.

 

Jean-Pierre Roy uses contrasts and mild juxtapositions to create a sense of discomfort in his paintings but without losing a basic sense of aesthetic complement. For example, to the left, the primary colors on the stadium make it seem fun and childish. The contrast between the gray organic forms surrounding the geometric stadium first appear like a mystical spectacle dividing form and color from confusion and binary. But looking closer, the smoking fires make clear a much stronger statement about the fine line between friendly competition and actual destruction.

 

I particularly like these two because it looks so easy the way he uses the slightest modifications to create two different representations of blood and an iceberg. On the left the whole painting has dark and foreboding colors and the blood is presented as whole cells. On the left, the lighter colors feel more innocent and are a much stronger contrast with the gaping wound of the ice-berg. These read as statements on global warming to me. The one on the left presents global warming as a natural illness that calls for healing, while on the right is seen as an unnatural violence. These paintings are not contradictory though, and it seems that the statement is that it takes both perspective to rectify the damage done and create further healing.

Jeremy Geddes opts for unifying color palettes in which richer hues create warmth and intimacy and grays increase distance and disconnect. Simultaneously, he often hides things in plain view by the way he balances color in order to force you to take a second look at the painting at the same time that you might want to take a second look at the phenomena they depict.

 

Is that a Satre reference on the right? Dystopia wouldn't be complete without it huh? The clear contrast between the grey cityscape and the bright yellow hippie van seem to invert history and presence. In this meeting of two 60s symbols (hippie van and astronaut) on the empty, half-finished infrastructure of today, I feel closer to the van than anything else. Maybe its a statement about looking back before we continue moving forward, which wouldn't be unwise in my opinion.

 

There are several good astronaut paintings in this series. I like this one mainly because the pigeon seems to be pulling the figure up. To me these are about the excitement of space exploration which has now become mundane while the problems of our planet remain pressing, as presented in the littered broken down scenery. The ochre-tones in this one are warm throughout except the grey pigeon that you might almost not notice. In fact the first several times I looked at it I didn't even think about the pigeon. The painting is pointing out something that we take for granted, the little dirty things like pigeons in a city, that often permeate our daily lives.

This guy is sticking a fork in a toaster oven to light the halo on his head. Similar to the last one, I missed the halo the first few times I looked. The black that consumes the figure and paled skin tones here make the figure seem shallow and also mute the suggested presence of a halo. This painting was part of a more psychologically themed series, but I like it a lot since I understand too well some of the trouble you can run into when you become overly concerned with possibilities of divinity.


For more work:
Jeremy Geddes
Jean-Pierre Roy