Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Him and The Beast- oil & ink 120cm x 90cm (hight x width)

I guess this piece is undeniably personal, but people seem to look at it and say that it's got this dark emotional message behind it, as though all the subtext is depression & anxiety based.
Yes the content comes from somewhere dark, and it does slightly echo the idea of Winston Churchill's 'black dog'. 
HOWEVER, I didn't want the idea to be so narrow as; 'these people are dealing with depression', it's supposed to be about that sort of emotional baggage that we carry with us through our lives, and those memories that sort of grow and add to the negative way that we filter our surroundings.

I wanted to go simple and just have this person, growing up with 'the beast'. I remember being young and feeling like I already had that beast hanging around me, but not knowing what it was, it hadn't quite taken shape, then I guess getting older you start to realize it's presence and study it, to find out what that darkness is. (Thus I have depicted the younger of the blue people with 'the beast' around his legs' and next the older, standing apart from it)
Then I went on to show how you relate to the beast, you carry it with you, and sometimes you come to enjoy it's company, the comfort of it's constant presence, however much this beast can burden you. (Hence one holding it, and the other around it's shoulders).
Lastly I wanted to show how you can become engulfed by the darkness, let it take over, and force you to crouch beneath the belly of 'the beast', still unable to let go.





Him and The Beast

Oils & Ink 
120cm x 90cm (height x width)