Deconstructed/Reconstructed "Nuclear Breath"
As a Minnesota native and an artist, I was utmost curious when I first saw the calls for art from a new gallery posted on mnartists.org. I always like to see the small, yet hugely daring galleries pop up in local communities. This one is located on the second floor of the Franklin Arts Center building, in Brainerd, Minnesota. With show names like "Tiny Worlds" and "Cloak and Dagger", alongside pictures of promising artwork with a cutting edge of individuality, The New Bohemian Gallery had my interest. Upon reading the description in the call for art for inclusion in the "Deconstructed/Reconstructed" exhibition, I thought that my most recent "Nuclear Breath" painting, with a still-life assemblage that had been deconstructed and reconstructed in the process, would be just right for the show.
Below you can see images of the first still life set up and beginning stages of the painting, in a large bathtub. A sea of vodka bottles, adorned with a few other accumulated objects; a ceramic fish as a metaphor for the saying "drink like a fish" and a scrubbing bubbles brush to signify a person "cleaning up their act" and quitting alcohol abuse. Unfortunately, I had to deconstruct my still life and reconstruct it at a different location during the painting process. I knew that I wanted to finish the painting with the same subject of alcoholism with the vodka bottles, so I decided to paint over the old composition with the new still life. The second and third row of images shows the second still life set up and the progression that follows. The painting turned into almost a narrative about when two people, with different ideals and morals get way too drunk together, fights can happen. Godzilla and a robot terminator are in a battle amidst an ocean of vodka bottles and beer cans. Godzilla's Nuclear Breath is radiating over the painting with saturated marks of color, like a plume of toxic vodka breath during a drunken fight. The concepts of deconstruction and reconstruction are huge in relation to alcoholism, need not to mention more.
I apologize for the bad image and lighting quality, I did not initially intend to show these progress photos. If you want to see the finished piece, please go to the opening reception of Deconstructed/Reconstructed at The New Bohemian Gallery in Brainerd on Friday November 21, 2014.