PAINTING SERIES

FESTIVAL STUDY

2010

oil on canvas

The series, Festival Studies, consist of three large-scale works (4’x6’ approx.) that act as visual maps to three different type of gatherings experienced in California.

Burn, represents my experience and thoughts on the festival, Burning Man.  Here we see figures in a grayish  foreground haplessly struggling to arrive at the large, circus-like, spectacle existing on the horizon. The main metaphor encapsulated within this piece exists within the signifier of yellow paint. The individuals stranded in a barren landscape, are forced to compete and race for the promise of something behind the spectacle, signifying the empty promise that spontaneous enlightenment through individual expression is possible at the event. The painting exists as a critique from my perspective that the event capitalizes on the art of the spectacle to promise people a spiritual awakening which the participant already embodies even if they are unaware of such abilities.

Pop, represents my experience at multiple rave events. The events classified under the category of a rave, exist inside and in the dark. This contrasts the barren landscape of Burn and is signified by the use a black paint. The image also borrows its composition from illustrations from the Karma Sutra, alluding to its orgiastic and sexual nature.  I also evoke the use of a dual pallets, one representing the dark anonymity of the experience, and another existing of bright hot colors in conversation with “candy culture”.  The bright yellow lines that intersect the piece allude to the bright lights that are vital to the experience of the rave.  Understanding the piece in totality, is to understand the trans-formative process  the individual undertakes of walking in to the event an individual to experiencing a moment of unified bliss experienced by all participants during a beat "drop", a phenomena commonly associated with these types of events.

L.I.B. represents my experience at the trans-formative festival Lightning in a Bottle,  the experience which I most openly condone.  Here we see a multitude of patterns representing the phenomena of appropriation within the context of culture and spirituality.  It is important for me to note, that while cultural appropriation is a widely loaded term, it is my opinion that the team behind this event  are responsible and informed about the cultural implications of such a notion. The characters within the painting are based on a 50 person massage train I witnessed at about 3am in the morning during my first experience with this specific environment. This happening lead me to consider open-air, curated, trans-formative festivals enabled participants to keep their individuality while taking moments to become part of a larger whole, while referencing cultural notions that this is a keystone in the human experience regardless of origin.