This one is probably my most analytically interesting thing I've done so far. It's a mix of a bunch of ideas I've had, some recent and some forever in my life, and all blends into a thing that has a lot of meaning.
I guess it starts with my upstairs neighbor, who died two years ago, leaving behind his empty apartment. A month ago I had to guide some roofers up through that apartment because of a heavy rain leaking through three layers of the building, and that was the first time I saw the place that I've lived below for half a year now. I knew little about the man, aside from that he was a recluse and a bit of a hoarder. Exploring the apartment was a surreal sensation; a lot of the design is identical to my own, except hasn't been renovated in decades, carpets covering all the floor. IT also has been untouched in years, everything still in it's place, covered in dust. It's an odd sensation, knowing all that, and then stepping back into my downstairs living room, knowing there's this alternate life of me living out my life the same way.
I also heard about the term Swan Song- the name of a piece of art you give if the artist unknowingly dies before it's finished. I was already thinking about adding a band to this scene; readying to play this person out, before they go.
The third layer has more to do with my grand scheme of my paintings that have a story; following the life of Gracie, the croissant head shaped woman that's often my central figure. I've been telling that story for years- the young, intimate years of her and her husband, to their later years, and eventually, her death in an aquarium. I've done paintings that go past that; seeing her in the afterlife of whatever it is to her, and that's a complicated story not for here. But this one I feel is again in that realm of the story; Gracie being aware, content, knowing her death is coming.
So yeah. This all goes deeper, my choice in this blotted, messy style is very intentional with all the rest of the themes in play. I'm out of letters to type here on insta. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
