I have a couple of works in progress. WIP it! Poor Boy will be painted on 3x6 ft wood panel with acrylic. The subject is close to my heart. As an activist I became acutely aware of how often children were overwhelmed with all kinds of messaging that would at times lead to some very self destructive behavior. I believe young black boys are particularly vulnerable to the bombardment of sex,violence and and materialism because they are more likely to be born in homes that are desperately lacking resources. I could go on and on but I have a story assignment to get to. The other WIP is a piece that is for fun. I call it "creativity bursting", painted on 2x4 ft wood with acrylic. At least that is what I am calling for now. :)
Took a picture with my parents and family of my artistic sidekick Angel during the opening reception for the exhibit that he and I have participated in. It's great that we have our work up in a gallery in our hometown. It's great that we even have an art gallery in the city hall area of Chester. The city has suffered a lot economically for decades. But some things are turning around. Although, I am happy to have my work up at the
gallery but I must admit it has me thinking that Angel and I should probably do an exhibit of our own. We clearly stood out as urban artist there :) Which could be a good thing. There are some other great artist that we've met there and I will link their sites once I have their cards in front of me sometime this week :) Talk soon everyone.
Painted what I call a "Pop Portrait" of my buddy Musoke Mwamaba Akil Lewis on 12x12 canvas acrylic. It gave me a chance to practice some basic drawing techniques and some figure drawing as well. I was tempted to let the illustrator in me come out by caricaturing him but I had to discipline myself and stick with doing a traditional portrait. I enjoyed it very much and if anyone would like a pop portrait done of of yourself or someone else inbox me. I'm doing commissions :)
I have plans to paint the faces of my immediate family members and then as part of a larger series that explores my journey in life, I want to paint the faces of people I have met along the way. Maybe title the series as "I See You."
Also turned in four pieces for the upcoming art show on Friday in my hometown at the only active gallery in Chester:
http://artavestates.com/home.html Looking forward to the opening reception. The city is in a slow process of gentrification but it is changing none the less. We need more visual artist in this town. I'm not sure how long I will be sticking around in the city but hopefully some real good changes take place that includes a growing art community before I go.
I finished my second painting the day before. It's a lot more illustrative in comparison to the first and weightier in subject. The title is "Systematic" I liked the process and felt comfortable with it although I think I prefer the heavy stroked pop graffiti-ish style. I sat both pieces next to each other just to see what the key differences were. Pop style wins for me :)
Stayed up late at night to finish this one. LOL I've already sketched three other pieces similar to this one. Big Boy is the main character and subject but the series may end up being called "Too Close to Home." or "Truth Be Told." I'm enjoying the stroke and blasting color. A very easy going process that allows me to focus on the concept and not get tied up with the process.
This piece is for editorial use. I'm placing it into stock. It is best used to illustrate the issue of war vs religion or war in the name of religion.
I have heard many say that the United States is a Christian nation but if one were to go by how the US government actually treats other nations this would not be a true statement. Yet I think I understand their confusion. It was the same confusion that the disciples had about Jesus when they asked Christ if he planned to over throw the Roman government. But Jesus made it clear to them many, many times that his Kingdom was not of this world.
Despite this fact people have insistently used RELIGION as a way to recruit and control others. But is this the fault of religion? No. God forbid. It is the fault of those who choose to manipulate faith for their own personal gain. To manipulators nothing is sacred. Not even holy faith.
Violence in itself has its own following and these followers use the faith of others to get the devastation that they want. I call it the New Religion. A religion that relies on the wicked inventions of mass destruction. A religion that values wealth over life. It is a New Religion although its principles are dark and very old.
This piece is also intended for editorial use like the first one. I expect it to be used on issues of war and conflict. It was initially designed just for a simple color and texture study. The piece took on a life of its own and proved to be useful.
The irony is that it reads as a children's book page but the characters are doing anything but childlike activities. I think I will play some more with these guys and see where they take me before I get into the more complex compositions and subjects.
Hey everyone
Hope you diggs this illustration. The title: Professional Fault Finders. I produced this illustration for an editorial piece. As you can see I have cleaned out all of my old post. Old things are passed away and all things are new.
The sketch process was simple. I kinda had this concept sitting in my head for quite some time so it didn't take but one finished sketch to produce the piece. The original size 32x22 as a digital file. I enjoyed the process completely. Talk soon.
Digital Mixed Media
Photoshop CS
Size: 32x22
Turn Around: 3 Days
Although, the holiday season may have put a halt on my blog post it did not put a halt on my artwork. LOL Now it just comes down to which creative vein I will give priority. I have two projects working at once. I'm four page spreads away from completing a children's book that is long overdue. The book is titled "For the Love of Peanut Butter". It's about a boy who loves....wait for it.... PEANUT BUTTER! :) It was fun writing it and doing the sketches years ago and it's even more fun finishing the water coloring for it. It will be self published by the end of March at the latest which makes me fill really good. *sigh exhale.
Now back to the gritty stuff. My colleague and I have finally figured out what the first five pieces will be for the "Too Close to Home" exhibit. It will explore righteous indignation. It will feature
Saartjie Baartman's, a woman who in the very late 1700's and early 1800's was caged and paraded around like an animal for white Europeans to gawk at as if she were a freak show because of her figure. Once the finished sketches for the five panels are done I will explain more.
Peace and hair grease :)
I'm now doing studies and sketches leading into the major pieces that I have in mind. Keeping pace with the inspiration that comes from what I have seen and what I am currently seeing in the community is exciting. The historic structures, falling apart but still standing tall, testifying of their resilience is partly what I aim to study in some of the finished sketches. The characters that are being produced out of my experience past and present are flooding my mind continually during the day no matter what I am doing.
Presently I am working on two pieces simultaneously. One piece is in collaboration with a colleague of mine who probably wants to go nameless for the time being. LOL It's just her way :) We are collaborating through her poetry and my illustrations coming together. Her poem Venus of the Ghetto describes a woman who is seen and unseen by her community. She is mocked because of her full buttocks. Her voluptuous figure is compared to that of
Saartjie Baartman's, a woman who in the very late 1700's and early 1800's was caged and paraded around like an animal for white Europeans to gawk at as if she were a freak show because of her figure. The other piece will revolve around how I percieve some of the political figures who are currently playing a big role behind the dismantling of our local school system in Chester PA.
While doing these pieces I have a goal to make sure that Chester's historic buildings, places and people are recognized in the art. Whether good, bad or controversial I want to be sure to capture the people and places to the best of my ability. I've started taking reference pictures and so on in order to ensure some level of accuracy and potency for the viewer. I better get going. Peace and hair grease.
It is finished! I love that phrase for so many good reasons :) I've finally completed the first piece planned for the exhibit. Despite work and a zillion other obligations I was able to get thru this detailed piece of work. God willing I will be able to create even more time for the project as the months progress. I'm looking forward to scouting Chester City for awesome landmarks and so on.
What does doing all of this "in peace" look like? I guess it looks like living by faith. Now this may seem foolish to my fellow art colleagues out there who have never had to struggle with the type of identity crisis I have LOL Activist vs Artist. I must find a way to bring them together and this project seems to be the perfect transition.
I have a lot on my plate this week that has nothing to do with art but I will have to be creative with my time in order to ensure that the project does not slow down. My current responsibilities have kinda thrown me off balance in my art, spiritual life and diet. I'm planning to get back on course this coming week. Completing this piece encourages me to stay on course. And on course I will stay. Why? Because..."It is finished."
I am tired but this is a good morning. We are in DC pushing for the Jobs Bill be voted on and unemployment benefits to be extended. Money, finances, resources, needs vs wants... the haves and the have nots. All of this has been the tension between peoples and powers since the beginning of tie. We are the 99% vs the the top 1%. Th one in the room with the most apples vs those who have next to no apples. *sigh
In the art pieces I am still trying to figure out a way that I will convey all of this tension in a compelling and powerful way that isn't redundant. Will moving the hearts of Chester PA be the priority as I work on each piece or will I be able to create a dynamic narrative for Chester and the world around it. I do often get the impression that Chester sees itself collectively as an island when in fact it is a victim of a national history...sh that... it is the victim of a global history. From my Chester street to the nations of the world. Is that to big of a story to tell? I imagine the Lord Will give me wisdom on how to take on such a feat successfully. Yes yes. Heading off to serve breakfast to some courageous activist.
*Forgive any spelling errors... I'm tired :)
Tonight was wonderful. Although my focus was challenged by the youthful company that I had around me I was able to push further into this piece. The Lord is good and patient :) I can't imagine not being an artist. There is nothing like it. The satisfaction of completing a piece is not something I can describe well enough. Sometimes I feel like an unworthy of having art in my life so who am I to waste it?
As I delve deeper into the conceptual process of this series I find myself feeling full of energy and very tolerant of many things. They are not much of a concern to me because something greater is happening in my life presently. All I want to do is sit down and dig deeper into this line work. I find myself studying lighting as I'm driving to work or talking to someone, watching how the warm light hits their face. The hard shadow vs the soft shadow. The glass object vs the wood... it's all pulling me in day by day. Light is everything at the moment especially when it comes to pushing myself to go to the next level as an artist. I need to return to figure drawing as well. I haven't had a good figure drawing session for quite some time. Being immersed in creativity is my goal. Activism has its good but it is not me all in all. I can't imagine remaining in activism without art being at the center of my expression in the pursuit of justice. Art here I come. forgive me for being so blind for so long. I intend to redeem the time God willing. Amen.
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| A good companion. |
More and more I have decided that this first piece is my test piece. A huge gigantic test strip. I want to see just how far I can take a pack of these BIC ink pens, not used traditionally for art. The medium often times sets that bar for how the public will value an art piece but I don't want the medium to set the bar in this project for two reasons. One I love to draw not paint and two I am hoping that the weight of the illsutrations will pull people in so successfully that they can't help but respect it. I live in what some would call the ghetto. But the ghetto has a lot more to offer than many in the DelCo think. I've decided that the medium should reflect that train of thought. The least of these becomes the greatest :)
Still the simplicity of the figures slightly concern me yet then again it may be necessary for them to seem not so serious and threatening. A colleague of mine referred to it as a "cartoon". I'm not sure what this means in terms of how seriously it will be taken by the public. I want it to have a "political cartoon-ish" feel so I guess I shouldn't over think it.
The chaos in the back is tremendous and will only become more hectic as each tentacle is developed and the bricks are flying all over the place. I'm realizing that not only is there tension between the static poses of the figures versus the organic energy of the crushing buildings in the back but there is also a serious contrast between the limited tonal changes in the figures versus the varying gradations within the background. Do I want to continue this trend? Probably so in order for it to read as intentional and not a mistake. If there is anything that can hurt an art series is when you have something in it that reads as a flat out mistake. LOL "It must always be intentional." And I don't mean just in the way that YOU feel about your art but also in the way that others perceive it. I honestly do not understand artist who claim that their work is produced for themselves and not the public yet they want the public to affirm their art. LOL Being honest with myself about what I want out of this process I would say... I want to get some of the worse thoughts about where I live off my chest and then I want to illustrate what I believe we could be collectively. But is honesty the best policy? I guess if I am willing to take the criticism and own the hard stuff that I plan to illustrate then it should be alright. Right?
By:
Desire Grover,
on 11/28/2011
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As each day passes by I find myself more and more convinced that there is a time for everything. I'm also becoming convinced that there are only a few of us who have the gift to know "What time it is." Before you read further please understand that I am not one of those people. :)
One of my favorite biblical passages is Ecclesiastes Chapter 3. I must remind myself of this passage especially when I am disheartened by what I see around me. And what I see around me is not a good picture. Young people have been dying in the streets of our community almost every week for the past few years. You would think that the urgency of the issue would catapult us into a unified collective action but instead it has done quite the opposite. And the bottom for us... the breaking point seems to be no where in sight. How many more lives must be snatched up before it becomes overwhelmingly gross and intolerable? I find my heart asking... do we love the children at all?
Another unfortunate reality is that am I slowly losing confidence in people. And this reality practically punched me in the face a few months ago. I mean literally one day I woke up and realized just how deeply disgusted I was with people. Now of course this means that I would need to be disgusted with myself because I am made from the same stuff. And understand that I am disgusted with myself which is why I am on red alert. Now on face value a comment like this would be taken as very NEGATIVE and maybe even alarming to some but I would push back by saying it is my willingness to admit that this is what's happening in me that is causing me to take heed to "What time it is."
It is time for me to stop and be still. It is time for me to listen rather than speak. It is time to be in the present and not stuck in the past.
I feel as if I have been wanting something better to come out of the community when it is not capable of giving something better at this TIME. I must accept that the TIME IS NOT YET. I have been trying to force a square piece into a circle. Now that I am able to accept that the TIME IS NOT YET for this city I can move on and only asks that God make the day of Chester's liberation come swiftly if at all possible. And as I say this the Word reminds me kindly "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...He has made every thing beautiful in His time..."
By:
Desire Grover,
on 11/21/2011
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It's been about 6 days since my last journal entry but not too much time has gone between working on the piece. I'm coming closer to the end of the piece. I've gotten all of the redlining done and now I'm simply inking and tightening up the tonal changes as I go along. It takes a good amount of time to simply cover key areas of the canvas with the hatching pattern to my liking. It's worth the labor put into it. The details must be sharp and punchy.With all the energy that is put into a piece like this I am realizing that it will be hard for me to let it go which isn't good news for the wallets of potential buyers. Maybe limited but affordable prints at the show should be available. I think that is the route to take.
I ran through the rain last night in order to get the piece from the makeshift studio at the church to my car and then from my car to the house. Every drop of rain threatened to attack it. Well I clearly will have to develop a better system of covering it. I imagine most artwork has a story of survival that would only add more value to its existence. "The trials and tribulations of the canvass." LOL. It sounds like a book title or some lame independent film. The rain last night also caused me to realize that just as I protected the art from the drops of rain last night I will also have to protect it from false priorities. I will have to do so like a lioness. I'm very much ready to be a lioness on the journey ahead.
I know that I have only been blogging only about the process of this one piece but I think taking on other concepts at the moment is not what I need presently. Presently I feel a strong need to finish this one piece. It represents the need for me to complete my work before I allow myself to get caught up in another concept. I swear I have "Creator's ADD" so please bare with me as I conquer this beast.
By:
Desire Grover,
on 11/15/2011
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Getting closer to the finish of this first piece and I'm excited to see it develop. The hatching that is done takes real attention and time. I've been careful to stop when tired and go to bed. LOL Although I have daytime obligations I find myself getting things done in a timely fashion in order to make sure that I am able to be creative without worry about unfinished obligations. Of course the little hater in the back of my mind tries to convince me that my momentum will slow down but something is telling me that this is not so. Plainly, because life is meant to be lived and you may as well do what you want while passing thru the space and time of life itself. I'm thinking of Steve Jobs outlook on life and death. His push to follow the inner voice that knows who we are and what we are destined to be. Either we will fulfill the call of that voice or we will betray it.
When you give it good thought it is not an accident that only a handful of us catch on to just how simple and present life is. What if we could all live in the present? How could fear hold us down when we are not obsessed with questions about our future. And how would regret burden us if we only cared for what we were doing in the present? In a way the tentacles within this series could also be a metaphor for the past and future. Robbing us of our determination in the present. If there is anything that concerns me it is the present. And the present is where I want to be. God willing. Amen.
I can't wait to get further into the background details. I was able to finish the bling on Big Boy today so the next step is to fill the background space with a set of tentacles that will be crushing the row houses behind Big Boy and his dog. I plan to have the bones, bling, guns and tentacles appearing in each of the art pieces. The bones stand for shame and unresolved death/injustice. The bling is symbolic of the urban poor man's constant state of want/longing. The guns are the self hatred that we practice against each other in order to vent our frustration with powers we PREFER not to understand and lastly, the tentacles represent the destructive powers that are at the root of the social dysfunction in our communities. When I say "we" and "our" I am referring to communities that are both poor and of color.
My goal in this series is to point out the apathy of the community that I live in. So many of us are living day to day simply trying to get by on the little we have so when the ravaging tentacles of injustice are reeking havoc on our communities we often times simply continue on with our day to day task until the chaos is at our personal doorstep and even then it is not a guarantee that we will respond wisely and strategically in order to make things right.
Yet again time has come for me to put down the pen in order to make yet another community meeting :) Talk soon! God willing ;)
A good friend of mine and fellow artist said kindly to me... "I think you need to add an accessory." He's right I do need to add some bling to Big Boy but I also have realized that I missed the opportunity to add some bling to the stack of bones. Hmmm... I like that I am thinking about my art project throughout the day. What can I add? What are some of the simplistic things that I can do in order to punch the viewer in the heart and gut? I also have realized that there is a need for more movement and life in the piece so I will be adding something very special to the background.
In the hood that is how we work right? We add what we believe is needed in order to say that we are doing our fair share to live up to the American Dream of gluttony. And despite how little we truly own and despite how hard life is...in the hood... "We buy what we can't afford and beg for what we need." -Rev.Campbell.
Okay it is 9:49 and I need to be a responsible adult and head into work.
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| Big Boy series and close up of ink work. |
I'm really enjoying the process of doing this piece. Here I am just before work having a peaceful moment etching. Very calming. The subject of the drawing is rather heavy but the process is light and pleasing. I'm pushing for balance both on this canvass and in my life so it is highly important that I finish this piece before I start on any new ideas. Completing my work in progress has been a persistent problem over the years because of the lack of balance but I am getting to a place of zen on the matter. Where letting go of worldly obligations is becoming more and more inevitable if I am to be who i truly am as an artist inside.
I feel a bit like a child again as I work on this. Themes/subjects that came naturally to me back in my preteen years are resurfacing in this work. I was obsessed with graffiti and urban life as drawing subjects. The guys hangin' on the corner with their over sized winter jackets and hoodies. The male bravado in the neighborhoods of my youth were always interesting and even at a very young age I understood that there was a vulnerability behind all of the posturing. Well it's 9:18 and I have a meeting to get to :)
What is an artist to do when they find themselves determined to waste their time with the sad attempts to change the world or community they live in. It has gotten to the point wherein I am realizing that I have cheated myself spiritually. But I would be lying if I were to say that this journey has been all for nothing. What better way to get back at yourself than to do it through a series of art pieces? Dump everything on a canvass? I have started and stopped so many projects due to my OTHER responsibilities but what if i were to quit all of the obligations I have put myself under and abandon myself in nothing but art? Even to my financial peril. What would that kind of success look like? My Big Boy Series perhaps?
So I'm sorry for the absence in the web-o-sphere. I'm currently working on a series of children's books that I have been meaning to get done like forever and I will be sharing the artwork at some of the local cafe's and art centers. Right now I am finishing up water coloring the illustrations for my book titled "For the Love of Peanut Butter" All of it is written and penciled and I have only eleven more pages to finish so I am feeling really good right now. I plan to publish this as an e-book and dvd in the beginning. I love telling stories so I will also be doing readings at libraries, churches and any other place that would dare to have me show up. Yes I am one of THOSE people who have the nerve to think that someone would care to read my silly stories for kids. LOL. Thanks for all of your support guys and gals. You all have my mad respect and appreciation. I wish I could do more videos but the time just isn't available. But once time permits I will most definitely be up for more cartoon mash ups. "Peace and hair grease!"
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I have a couple of works in progress. WIP it! Poor Boy will be painted on 3x6 ft wood panel with acrylic. The subject is close to my heart. As an activist I became acutely aware of how often children were overwhelmed with all kinds of messaging that would at times lead to some very self destructive behavior. I believe young black boys are particularly vulnerable to the bombardment of sex,violence and and materialism because they are more likely to be born in homes that are desperately lacking resources. I could go on and on but I have a story assignment to get to. The other WIP is a piece that is for fun. I call it "creativity bursting", painted on 2x4 ft wood with acrylic. At least that is what I am calling for now. :) 
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