The Deconstruction of “Consumption”

I had this painting, “Consumption”, hanging at Syrup Desserts until one day, I decided I was tired of it.

I initially painted this for my first solo show in 2009, I had already painted over this bad boy about five times, and this is what I came up with:

“Consumption” was a diptych, but I used the bottom piece for my previous painting, “What Have I Done?”

At first, i decided to add color to the painting, and I decided to render certain areas of the illustration while preserving the flat graphic elements to give it a range of variety. I also wanted to keep hints of the old painting, why erase all of it when it tells you the history of where you came from, yes? Like our skin, or our scars, the intimacy of wrinkles that indicates story and age…and other romantic bullshit.

I was worried that my work has become too busy, and as attached as I am to the floral elements of this work, I knew I had to cut some of it out in order to strengthen my work (sad face, tear!)

This is my work, naked. I think I let it sit around my studio like this for about a month… so sad. I just didn’t know what to do with it!

This picture is about flight, so I decided to have the bird surrounded by kites and other inanimate flying objects. I also turned the bottom piece into a kite that is cutting into the foreground.

This is the jist of my work, I’m sure my compulsive disorder will compell me to render more, but I’m going to give it a little breather for now.

voila!