this is a sketch

okay, so here is the sketch that i am working on, based on the Marxist theory. I will also be setting a mood, which the first three images that I posted had lacked. I will be using the moods to represent my opinion on the views I show. There have been other versions of this but I did not like where they were going. I am also moving away from showing all the animals as just animals and putting them in a more human situation, at least some of the animals. I will also go ahead and apologize to Laura, just so you know I'm not trying to replicate your prints and am sorry if it seems that way, but this is the best way I can think to show these views. I plan on showing the ants in the foreground crawling over a mound of dead ants, I just have a small group in the sketch but I will add more as I work on it.

sorry for the wait

There was a power outage at my house and it wrecked our modem so I went without internet all week so I apologize for the gap between posts, I have been developing ideas on the views of Epictetus and Marx. Marx, the communist will be shown with the ants, representing society, marching along, giving the food they collect to the communist pig, representing the wealthy industry owners/government in a communist society. I am thinking about also approaching it in a political cartoon way. Epictetus was a slave Rome, around 100 A.D. who developed the concept of stoicism, where people accept the fact that they are not in control of anything and start to lack emotion, for example, if a loved one dies they would feel like it was out of their hands and would pretty much just shrug it off with no mourning. Or if they got punched in the face they would feel like they must have deserved it and could not have done anything to avoid it and would not retaliate. So this could relate the communist society where the people accept their situation and deal with it, no matter how bad their living gets. This idea is not completely resolved but it may be shown in with some ants dying while the rest go on with their business, not going over to mourn over the loss of fellow citizens in the society.

still waiting

As of now, I am still waiting to hear back about the last series that I showed on the blog in order to find out if I should do several small series, such as the last one, or possibly do one series with a collection of philosophical views and tie them all together.

Either way I have been reading up on the philosophers, right now I am looking at Epictetus, who believed in stoicism, and Marx, the creator of Marxism and supporter of communism. I feel comfortable with what I know about these two philosophers but I would like to hear some feedback to figure out how these are going to be presented before I go to far.

some ideas

here are some ideas that I have for this project. These is based off of the views of Locke and Rousseau, Locke's idea that man is better in society is shown in the one with the ants, where the ants represent a society, working together. Locke is shown above the colony, as the bird, which is the prophetic animal, also is a peregrine falcon, which is the messenger bird so I felt that was appropriate. The top image is of Rousseau's theory that man is better in his natural state, the boar, the warrior animal, is representing man in his natural state. The boar is shown fighting a snake, representing life and death. According to Rousseau, man in his natural state would only have one need, which is to survive. If the boar loses the fight, he would be unable to eat and would die, if he wins then he would live on for another day. Rousseau is also shown as a peregrine falcon. The middle image is of the two falcons fighting, representing their argument. This is along the lines of what I want to do, not sure if I want to stick with using animals, mainly wanted to see what everyone else thought of it before I go on with it. I also used a very heavily detailed line drawing for the image then colored it in on photoshop, so I also want to know what everyone thinks about that. If it goes over well then I plan on using the same technique with the rest of the images.

summer statement

My work involves the study of philosophers and their views. I will show their views using graphic symbolism and color psychology. The artwork will be arranged in a series of work, one that shows views of different philosophers, as if they were having an argument. I will be showing their views with the influence of my thoughts on them. Some images may be about how I disagree with the philosophers views; others may show my agreement with them. There will be one image of each philosophers view in order to introduce them, followed by an image that involves different aspects of each view, as if it were an argument. I will be researching philosophers based around the philosophy of human nature. This involves Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Kant, the Christian Thinkers, Epictetus, and Rousseau.

oh and I also made corrections to this one, based on the feedback I received. I applied the same texture to all the books so that they look more consistent. I also darkened the outer edges of the image so it doesn't stand out so much. So thank you for your input.

there we go, I think I am done with this one now, so it is time to print. This along with the rest of the images will be printed on canvas.