2013 has been off to a hectic start-- apartment hunting, job hunting, applying for grad school-- but I have been trying to find time daily to draw. Most of the time, the drawings are crap. Practicing everyday though has helped me generate new ideas and produce a few usable drawings.
Call to Arms
I've been working on a series of drawings, which mash together American history and occult imagery. Growing up in Massachusetts, I noticed that New Englanders take colonial history quite seriously. The war is retold as a romantic epic, a cinematic underdog story. Humble townspeople band together to fight for freedom against the wealthy villain. Lexington and Concord, the Boston Tea Party, the Crossing of the Delaware are retold not as factual events as mythologies with fate and heroes. I wanted to use occult and religious imagery to poke fun at the sacredness imbued upon our national history.
Also, I wanted to draw Revolutionary soldier Siamese twin centaurs connected by the butt.
Living outside the US has given me another perspective on American patriotism. It's a strange and fascinating thing. Americans are emotional about their country. We're supposed to feel this deep, sacred love for our nation. For example, to not "support the troops", regardless of your individual political beliefs, is a form of sacrilege, a violation of a fundamental more. Patriotism in the US takes on a unique religious quality. It's our own brand of mythology.
I plan on developing these drawings into a screenprinted series. Watch this space.
Coronation
In other news, I drew a goat.
