Monday, January 24, 2011

Love Stinks, An Anti-Valentine's Day Show



Much like the posters for A Holiday Art Massacre, and MAYhem, this is for another awesome Staci McNasty/Dave Lowlife/Heather Young joint. There's even more artists and information that have been added since I was given the list for the poster, so please go check the facebook event page for the full list: HERE.



It started really rough, as you can see, with an original plan to include some word balloons with Skullface saying: "AAAGH! Again?". I opted out of that, just to simplify the piece. I guess I wanted to leave the story open ended, open to interpretation. I liked the word balloon though, just felt it was a better piece with it left out and open to interpretation.



So it's Skullface, pierced by an arrow, fired by who I'm going to claim is Voluptas, Cupid and Psyche's daughter. Why not? I've always really liked Jacques Louis David's Cupid and Psyche painting that's hanging in the Cleveland Museum of Art, but I think maybe Cupid is a little overexposed for St. Valentine's Day representations. I also knew I wanted to include the roses with the thorns. I used Skullface maybe because I miss the character a little. Maybe he needs a little love.



My contribution to hang in the show will be this original art and an edition of inexpensive archival 11" x 17" digital prints of the color version. The prints will only be $24 and the framed OG will only be $144.

If you are not going to the show, or don't live in Cleveland, and would like a print, I'd be more than happy to ship them! Below I've added a handy paypal button for your convenience, which I've added a $4 shipping charge which I'm pretty sure will cover the cost of the flat mailer and postage. If you would like me to ship international, no problem, just shoot me an email and we'll work it out!

UPDATE!: THESE ARCHIVAL DIGITAL COLOR PRINTS WILL BE 13" X 19" INSTEAD OF 11" X 17"! Same Price!












3 comments:

Mike Hawthorne said...

Fantastic! Hope it goes well for you :-)

mike

PS - Oh, and thanks for the card/note.

Anonymous said...

This is romantically correct. Note how it's the man with the fatal arrow thru the chest, the evil arrow shot by a woman with one tit hanging out. She's disposed of him, probably won't even wait around to watch him die, and will now go out in search of her next victim. Curses to the female species!!! CURSES!!!!!

John G said...

Well, Anonymous person, while I can appreciate your interpretation, I would like to offer up an alternative perspective... Cupid, traditionally, shoots arrows dipped in some kind of love potion, which is why when he goes to shoot Psyche at the behest of his moms, Venus, (who will plant some kind of monster which Psyche will fall madly in love with) and accidentally scratches himself, he falls for Psyche. So in this case, I've represented the daughter of Cupid and Psyche, Voluptas (or Hedone(?)), who I propose is carrying on the family business and has shot Skullface with one of Cupid's arrows. So one interpretation, especially based on the rough at least, where Skullface is saying "AAAH, Again?!" because he's been struck by love ...again, rather than having his heart broken, or being hurt, by this woman (who's not really a human woman but a half goddess), she's afflicting him with a flood of amorous emotion. This, being bothersome because it does indeed put him at risk for having his hearth then broken.