Thursday, September 6, 2012

Virus

I have had a virus of some sort I can't seem to shake.  The local doc says it has been going around the neighborhood like wildfire, a strange sort of illness.  I just feel tired and sweaty, with a nonstop headache, and random feelings of vertigo.  Not pleasant, and very low-grade.  It seems to not want to go away for the last five or so days.  Yuck.

Besides that, I am trying to barrel through it.  I have been working pretty steadily, even though I feel like total garbage and very crabby.  I am getting geared up for a few different shows, but the one I am most excited about right now is the Parallax AF NYC in Chelsea.  It is a curious and really heavy hitting new show in NYC, and I was invited to participate and did so with great anticipation.  Should be an amazing show, with amazing artists, and I am happy to be a part of it.  It's running from 11/16-11/18 in Chelsea, NYC.  Check out my website at: www.hilaryjengland.com for the full scoop.

I have been working in several different mediums, each of them really helpful to the thematic motif of rural American youth.  This is the second mixed media artwork I just finished.  It is called, "Goodbye"



Here are the thoughts for this piece:

"I think, therefore I am." ~Descartes  As we grow from barely thinking human beings into fully aware adults, I noticed a change of perspective that comes along with this blossoming and awareness.  Many times, violent emotions are involved, and in the heat of these conflicts, truth often arises.

It is said that change is hard, but many times that is an understatement.  This artwork "Goodbye" addresses the complexities of the basic principle of change, and the awareness of our movements toward and away from each other.  In the marketplace of ideas, we orbit through many different spheres, sometimes touching, sometimes overlapping, but many times, we can find ourselves at opposite ends of the universe of our reality from people we profess to love and care about, on ever level a human can experience.  Love is a small word for the size and breadth of the psyche it occupies.

No matter how far along a person is on the journey that is life, the death of a relationship and the moment of clarity when it strikes is always a new experience.  Pain, confusion, anger, depression, relief, and sometimes even a dark form of joy are some of the conflicting and jagged emotions that can cloud or clarify judgment.  Often, the experience is so profound, it is life altering.

I constructed this artwork of found and ready-made objects.  The base is a stripped wooden pedestal, and on that I mounted a wine bottle that I found and cleaned.  It was fixed to the base and was papier mached into place, sprayed with spray paint.  The .22 caliber bullets are live rounds, fixed, and painted with black enamel nail polish, as is the archway into the piece, which I constructed of left over wedding cake mountings. Rhinestones mark the phantasms that are floating ideas or dreams.

The piece symbolizes danger, nostalgia, wistful remembrances, sober realization, and of course, a vault into the unknown.



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