A short, voluptuous model who was tied up by Rain de Gray and stimulated to (apparent) orgasm with a Hitachi wand before a live audience. This image shows her in an early stage of being tied.
This girl, Katharine Cane, got into a very small acrylic box. There was a sort of drinking game held on the box and another girl sat on top of it and had liquor poured on her body. What impressed me most was how exceedingly happy Katharine seemed to be trapped naked in a tiny clear plastic box. It’s not really Kinbaku at all, but it was happening so I drew it.
This is Katharine Cane again – the same girl that was in the plastic box earlier in the evening. She had ivory skin and jet black hair. Her eyes were very darkly made up. In this scene a large vibrator has been tied to her crotch in an effort to force her to orgasm, however she seemed completely unphased by the stimulation. Around her thighs she is wearing electric dog collars, but the shocks to her inner thighs seemed not to bother her in the slightest.
Here is a drawing of "Black Xmas" host Mike West binding a young lady. Actually I think he may have been asphyxiating her, but I was late on the scene and captured this sketch rapidly without having a clear sense of what was really taking place.
This young man is in the process of having the ropes removed. Earlier he was in full suspension wearing red pajamas, and being beaten on the ass with a wooden spoon for stealing cookies.
I sketched these at a bondage performance party called “Black Xmas”, and they are the first drawings in a new series entitled, “Rope Impressions,” that is comprised of life drawings of scenes of Japanese Style Rope Bondage (known as “Kinbaku” or “Shibari” in Japanese). The title alludes not only to the distinct rope marks that are left on the skin of the bound body, but also to the Impressionist movement. This is my virgin foray into Impressionism. Drawings such as these are not so much accurate renderings of art models as they are “impressions” of life, albeit a strange slice of life. The models for these drawings, though bound, were in constant movement, and I captured my impressions with great speed, and later refined them at my leisure. I feel that subject matter such as this returns to the original subversive spirit of Impressionism, before it somehow became the great sentimental hurrah of banal and bourgeois taste. Moreover it hearkens back to “Japonisme”, which was a strong current in Impressionism and other Fin de Siecle art movements. Importantly, it is an erotic indulgence in the beauty of bound women.
More drawings in this series will be forthcoming soon . . .
Here is my latest deployment of the “Illuminations”. They were hung under a corrugated awning in the backyard of Sancho Gallery in Echo Park, Los Angeles for the “Dark Echo Park” show. The space was approximately 10′ x 15′ and seven of the Illuminations were hung by fishing line so that they appeared to float in space.
"Benediction", Acrylic on Canvas, 3′ x 3′ (91.5 x 91.5 cm), 2011
“Benediction”, Acrylic on Canvas, 3′ x 3′ (91.5 x 91.5 cm), 2011
Eve gallops into consciousness upon a crawling Adam (late for the costume ball!) as the shocked Spider Monkey God raises his four fingered hand in a priestly gesture of “Benediction” and a French Tickler Satan pops out of his mouth to offer a candied apple of forbidden knowledge! “Guilala”, (a truly ridiculous movie monster) looms in mirror image copy-cat tourist glory out of the syrupy swamp of Japanese pop culture to take a snapshot of that grand moment when the ape brain loses its instinctual innocence and lunges headlong into the knowledge of good and evil.
“Benediction” continues my acrylic painting series based on animation stills. The original animation was part of the series of animations I called “Ultra Shorts” (owing to their extreme brevity) which were displayed online as animated .gifs.
This painting further explores the use of gilding that began in, “Mistress, May I?”, and now I am adding more impasto and different kinds of glitter in an effort to make work that can only be properly appreciated in person.
"Menage a Trois," Acrylic on Canvas, 91 x 122 cm, 2011
“Ménage à trois,” Acrylic on Canvas, 91 x 122 cm, 2011
This painting is based on animated montage (.gif) that I made a couple of years ago. Currently I am using images from my animation as the basis for acrylic paintings. I am interested in bridging the gap between the work I have done in animation and computer graphics and the work I am doing in painting.
"The Torture Garden"
24" x 30" , Acrylic on Canvas, 2011
“The Torture Garden,” 24″ x 30″ (61 x 76 cm), Acrylic on Canvas, 2011
Woman possesses the cosmic force of an element, an invincible force of destruction, like nature’s. She is, in herself alone, all nature! Being the matrix of life, she is by that very fact the matrix of death – since it is from death that life is perpetually reborn, and since to annihilate death would be to kill life at its only fertile source.
– Octave Mirbeau, The Torture Garden, 1899
This painting derives from an image I named, “Venus”, that I made in Photoshop a couple of years ago:
I started the painting by faithfully copying the image in the photomontage, but after awhile it seemed pedantic to me – I felt that when it was just a copy of the montage that it lacked my personal touch and style, and so I stopped looking at the photo and improvised all the finishing touches. Now, I feel that I have created something that is distinctly mine. I think the ballerina legs may come from a Henri Cartier-Bresson photo, but of this I am not certain – they are mine now!
The title, “Torture Garden”, is of course a tribute to the famous novel which I recently read. It seemed such a fitting title – I could not resist.
"Mistress, May I?"
Acrylic on Canvas, 24" x 36" (61 x 91.5 cm)
2011
“Mistress, May I?”
Acrylic on Canvas, 24″ x 36″ (61 x 91.5 cm)
2011
This painting is part of a new series that aims at faster production time than the high detail oil paintings I have been making for the past couple of years. I am deriving my subject matter from collages that I have made (primarily in photoshop). This painting was made by first spray painting a background, then I transferred the cartoon, I laid variegated metal leaf to form the background “aura” for the cartoon character, after painting the cartoon character in I embellished the background with doodles rendered in metallic paints. The painting was made in just 3 days.
The original is for sale – framed. Contact me if you are interested.
Rough Cut from “Loose Spirits” – Vegetarian Festival sequence Part A
“Loose Spirits” is the title of a documentary film (in progress!) about spirit possession rituals in South East Asia. Footage was shot in 2002 – 2004 in Myanmar, Thailand, and Bali. It documents practices within the animist cult of “Nat Pwe” that exists alongside Buddhism in Myanmar, the infamous “Vegetarian Festival” that is an exaggerated holdover of Taoist folk rituals held annually in Southern Thailand, and also shows classic trance rituals of Hindu Bali performed at the time of the “Bali Bombing”. The film intends to be a comparison of cultures and religions, modernity and tradition, as well as a celebration of the rich and strange pageantry of spirit possession.
In this film I will advance the thesis that spirit possession is an expression of “living myths”, that is to say mythical symbols that are concentrated with such potent power that they have the ability to come to life in the trance medium’s mind and body. Exploring the mythology that informs the rituals I will show how compelling symbols endure to provide modern societies with an effective means of healing, exorcism, self-expression, and celebration through these symbols of divine power.
Rough Cut from “Loose Spirits” – Vegetarian Festival sequence Part B
Rough Cut from “Loose Spirits” – Vegetarian Festival sequence Part C
“Loose Spirits” is the title of a documentary film (in progress!) about spirit possession rituals in South East Asia. Footage was shot in 2002 – 2004 in Myanmar, Thailand, and Bali. It documents practices within the animist cult of “Nat Pwe” that exists alongside Buddhism in Myanmar, the infamous “Vegetarian Festival” that is an exaggerated holdover of Taoist folk rituals held annually in Southern Thailand, and also shows classic trance rituals of Hindu Bali performed at the time of the “Bali Bombing”. The film intends to be a comparison of cultures and religions, modernity and tradition, as well as a celebration of the rich and strange pageantry of spirit possession.
In this film I will advance the thesis that spirit possession is an expression of “living myths”, that is to say mythical symbols that are concentrated with such potent power that they have the ability to come to life in the trance medium’s mind and body. Exploring the mythology that informs the rituals I will show how compelling symbols endure to provide modern societies with an effective means of healing, exorcism, self-expression, and celebration through these symbols of divine power.
“Series I” prints are made by the artist, the signed and numbered prints are limited to 100.
The print area of “Gallow’s Humor” measures 12″ h x 14.8 v” (30.5 x 37.5 cm). The original painting was executed in oil upon a panel and measures 14.5″ x 17.75″ (36.5 x 45.25 cm). The print is 83% of the original size.
