Vanitas 35 (Cellini) finished

I finished Vanitas 35 subtitled "Cellini". This was an interesting technical challenge with so many different textures: translucent black blouse with frills, shiny metallic buttons, brocade bodice and the weathered concrete wall background. Initially I was thinking about mixed media drawing with watercolor splash, then I abandoned that idea. This piece does not need anything else.

Vanitas 35 (Cellini) WIP

A month I go I started working on this new Vanitas drawing tentatively called "Cellini" after the plaster cast head my model Laelia is holding made by Benvenuto Cellini. Today I pretty much finished the figure and I am ready to work on the background next. It's going to be another heavily rendered and highly textured background based on a photograph I took last year in Tokyo.

Now that "Summer" is over...

I finished this new drawing "Vanitas 34 (Summer)" a couple of weeks ago. I really didn't realize how fast I was able to finish this one until I checked the dates of my Instagram posts showing some WIP shots. It did not take a whole month for me to finish it. So I figured it was roughly 100 hours or maybe even a little less. Of course the fact that I was on my sabbatical greatly helped me work faster on this drawing in a more focused manner.

Now that I was able to spend a little time to think about this piece, I can say a couple of things that are happening in my art at this moment. I feel my art is taking a slightly new direction. All the elements that were staples in my Vanitas series are still there but there is something else that's new. In the previous Vanitas pieces, my main concern was to portray the physical and emotional states of female subjects by showing both their vulnerability and strength, but more emphasis on the former. With this new drawing "Summer", the emphasis has shifted more to the latter. It probably has something to do with the fact that my model was not in the nude, but also the background with its dynamic summer clouds in the sky added a sense of power to my subject. I can also say her pose of standing against a chaos in the background and the overall triangular composition did something to the piece and amplified its strength. And one other thing that was no less significant. My model being an African American was also an important factor that played out in a positive way in the current cultural climate. All those things were not what I had fully anticipated when I started working on this piece. I was made aware of them by a few people who saw this piece and responded to the sense of empowerment in it. Come to think of it, it was kind of happening already back in Vanitas 30 with my model Megan standing strong in the nude and showing her skull and the bee tattoo down her arm, but the sense of strength was not fully realized until I worked with Amber for this drawing "Summer". I do not make any art that has an intended political message simply because that is not what I am interested in. However, what I discovered in this particular piece was an interesting eye-opening experience for me.

Vanitas 31 "The Call"

The piece I finished earlier this year (before I finished "Spring") but did not have a chance to share online. I had to wait until the show with this piece being part of was officially advertised on social media. It is "Vanitas 31" and subtitled "The Call". I came up with the concept and produced this drawing after receiving an invitation from Beautiful Bizarre Magazine to exhibit my work in their upcoming group show called "Halcyon Days". The show is going to take place in November 2022 at Modern Eden Gallery in San Francisco, California. The theme of the exhibition is longing for long-gone happier and more peaceful days. I intended this piece to talk about a kind of call to action, hence the title "The Call". The action it is suggesting is not a violent upheaval but rather a personal imaginative kind. My model is about to release her paper plane. She doesn't know where it is going, but wishes it will reach its right destination, a happier place, past or future. The color of the plane reflects the blue of the skies in the happier times.

Looking back, I think I was subconsciously influenced by the January 6th insurrection last year and what happened afterwards. Watching those right wing extremists storming the Capital building and seeing people getting beat up and killed on the screen disturbed me tremendously and I was also infuriated when some people even sympathized with those behaviors.

I was listening to Mal Waldron's "The Call" when I was working on this drawing coincidentally. It is a dark brooding tune and reflected my emotional state at the time. And I thought the title perfectly fit the theme of the piece.

New drawing "Spring" ("Vanitas 32")

I just finished a new drawing entitled "Spring". It is actually a part of my Vanitas series and "Spring" is a sort of its subtitle. I used Mitsubishi Hi-Uni pencils for the most part except for the bottom 1/3 where you see a poppy in the black background. That was all Faber-Castell Pitt matt graphite pencils. So this drawing has 2 different surface finishes: gloss and matte.

The concept is that the textured background symbolizes a state of decay, erosion and the white poppy symbolizes peaceful death. But this flower also brings up an idea of new life/rebirth in spring. My model is suspended in between those 2 opposite ends of the spectrum, living in both of those dimensions simultaneously. She is affected by the decay of life but her body language and gaze express a sense of longing for spiritual rebirth.

This is my very first round drawing and I had a special frame custom made. I think the drawing looks good in this frame. This is going to be shown at Arcadia Contemporary in New York this summer for their Five And Under show.