Apr 11, 2010

Illustration Friday: Linked








Linked? Pirates?

Well, I have these pirate characters in the back of my head, just waiting to get out into the 'real' world.
"Aharrgh Finnie! Pick us for 'linked'!" they yell at the tops of their scurvy pirate voices.

So.... how can I work them into 'linked'?

Hmm.... What do pirates do? Well bad pirates (ones who aren't good at their job) get captured and tied up by 'good' pirates. Bad pirates shuffle the plank; they take the dive, splash in the water a bit with their hook hands and wooden legs. And then of course they sink with one final "Arghagghhhhh" and 'faire glou-glou'.

And ...... a little while later their dissasociated body parts make an organic link with the rest of the world - via shark teeth.

So after all, I can manage to work in the idea 'linked' in there if I try. Good pirates, bad pirates, shark teeth. Simple.
But what's this got to do with the above illustration....?

Nothing....

The pirates are still in the back of my head, screaming and yelling and yahooing. Even as I type they are having a wild party, possibly a wake. (Yes, I know, they must be 'awake' otherwise they wouldn't be making so much noise) Hopefully they'll run out of gutrot rum soon. I know I have.

So the genesis for this illustration comes from "Genesis". Well I think it does. Michaelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Adam and God. A little retrospective stealing from the wiki tells me:
The Creation of Adam is a section of Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man. Chronologically the fourth in the series of panels depicting episodes from Genesis on the Sistine ceiling, it was among the last to be completed.

And so in this illustration there is that idea of the linkage of man to the spiritual, the idea of human hands reaching out to Heaven, to the 'known' unknown.

But if you accept Heaven, then you must accept Hell - and so, if you look hard enough, you'll see just a little bit of Hell in the second illustration (below). Courtesy of  Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel and  our very own Joe Beale (who brought Brugel to my mind). (Have you seen Joe's work? Do yourself a favour, take a look, stretch your legs out, there's a lot going on in Joe's work.)

And of course there's Kali, Vishnu, Shiva and Ganesh.... and Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.



I made a lot of different versions of this. Here's just a couple...... Feel free to click on them if your mouse finger is feeling itchy.
































And lastly, there is the idea of Menage a Trois. The sci-fi look is something not to my taste. It so.... so 70's! (insert wink here) The eyes on the figure in the middle? I see they are blank, he is emasculated, he is not seeing. Well at least I hope he is not.....




Thankyou for looking at my work.

18 comments:

  1. Rendu magnifique, très beau travail... beaucoup de recherche.

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  2. Wow, Andrew... I went from laughing at your pirate ramblings to seeing a possible Heaven, then the Hell in your follow-up images... the first and second ones in that list are stunning... as you may have guessed these are my favourites! And I really like the fourth one, just the faces... there is something quite tender there, almost innocent, strangely enough. Really interesting work. Thank you for always posting original and wonderful work.

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  3. very, very cool Andrew, sorry so short, got Myles in my lap this morning :)

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  4. Love the sensory imagery and color choices, nice work!

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  5. Arghh!!! I must say this is Awesome, awesome awesome!

    Yes. Whenever I read 'pirate', pirate talk is kinda activated in my mind aye...

    hehe. Kidding aside, I really like your work! It's so different and really thought through! I like the 'known unknown' part.

    It's TJ from 12WC ^_^

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  6. Ha, Andrew...love this post. Something about the way your mind works is scary; It works like mine, apparently. Really good stuff, man.
    I've just about got the boat painting done and will probably post it tomorrow.
    Keep in touch.

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  7. hello Professor.

    1. this is gorgeous.

    2. "But if you accept Heaven, then you must accept Hell" yes, for sure.

    3. me, i believe in the light because of obscurity, i believe in God so then i'll have to believe in the devil.

    4. no don't take it seriously, you know me...

    5. im not a golfer (neither a surfer), am only a lover :D

    6. i have never hit a home run

    7. im not that talented

    8. so i hope im not that annoying :D

    9. nsoe= nose?......... even if you were as anonymous, i know it was you

    10. my eyes have been replaced with pearls, didnt you notice? so yes i think it's a good idea!

    11. thanks for sharing your art too!

    12. toodles!

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  8. I love reading your posts! I never know where your whimsy will take me...I actually saw stars! As in, your "linked" figures looked like a star (okay, I had to squint to see it) but it does link in with the heaven idea...

    Anyway...love your blog, Andrew!

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  9. Hi Andrew! This is as amazing as when I saw it on zero2illo, only better with the black background and bigger! Nice stuff — hypnotic, really!

    Thanks for the kudos on my animation, mister! Don't know why you had trouble leaving a comment — it was on and there, but just as well (I got your feedback and that's what matters!)

    Cheers!

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  10. Scary cool Andrew, absolutely mesmerizing!

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  11. Hello, gee thanks for the comments. I appreciate them very much.

    It's good to do work that gets looked at rather than sitting in a dark cupboard somewhere.... (I have about forty paintings stacked in a pile in the library)

    I just have to go and make up a story or two now, let's see, I can feel one coming on. It's about a giraffe who was born with no neck.... - he could never wear ties, so was forced to work in a fish and chip shop.... but one day, who should walk into the shop but a specialist Giraffe neck surgeon....

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  12. Very cool Andrew! Amazing work!

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  13. I love your work. It is so beautiful and looks like you have to be fairly technical to achieve the results you do. Great work!

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  14. Thanks Maria and Aspa, you are both very kind :)

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  15. Great work! I especially like the 1st, 2nd and 6th in the list of different versions - love the colours and atmosphere.

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  16. AArgh matey....
    first I thought we were pirating...me with my eye patch!
    Then I'm completely drawn in to this surreal awesomeness! Love it!

    Now walk the plank ya scallywag!

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  17. Shiver me timbers, Mr. Finnie! (Oh, dear, is that pirate or more Popeye?) I seriously thought this was sculpture at first. Holy moly and all that jazz. Amazing stuff, really amazing. It's clear you love to play and push and experiment, all with wonderful results.

    And then your words! HA! I was laughing so hard I nearly poked my eye out with my hook-hand. Here you took this piece and linked it to LINK in not one, but three different ways! Your mind is a massive swirl of energy, isn't it. It's like mental nuclear fusion. Woooo! Okay, must go take some vitamin C now. I fear my teeth are rotting.

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  18. Hannah, thanks so much for giving your opinions. It helps me pick what goes in the portfolio, and what stays on the football field.

    Hello Roberta and Bella, now you are both making me laugh. I think I could have a touch of scurvy meeself .... lucky I have an olde lime to chew on ...

    Thanks for your kind words.

    see you anon :)

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Hya! Thank you so much for leaving a comment. I appreciate your time and thoughts.