Life’s Flight

The body continues to grow, age, dwindle with each passing gust of wind; this breeze guiding the body through experience and life. Once young and fruitful, the butterfly begins its journey as an infant; full of color and beauty, the artist pictures the beginning of life as wondrous and exciting through eye- catching colors and peaceful, flowing movements of the brush starting at the bottom of the painting. As the butterfly ascends the tree, the artist represents the advancement of life into the afterlife; the gaining of age, wisdom, and bodily growth.
Flying towards the top of the tree, the creatures go their separate ways, one flying towards the west, and the others the east. And what does this separation show the audience? The paths in which these butterflies decide to take signify the decisions in which one will take as life continues on, the opposing paths that one may make from another, the simple choice to follow either right or left, up or down, life or death, whiteness or color; could be the life- altering factor of one’s existence.
The butterfly has reached the top, but what is happening? Why are the wings beating slower, the heart rate rising, and yet the speed decreasing? Age has overcome the once beautiful, colorful, young butterfly and has devoured the organism’s very existence. As the creature reaches the peak of the image, the butterfly’s flight is not simply ending, but rather redirecting, following a new course towards the afterlife.
The butterflies are weak,
fruitless,
and white,
metaphorically becoming angels and ascending into heaven.
The butterflies do not simply disappear,
but rather continue their path off the canvas,
into a new world;
a world full of mystery,
hope,
and passion.

Amenity

A tranquil vibe dominates McNulty’s work of art, Amenity, evoking a feeling of a peaceful time. An image of the sea breaks through visible brushstrokes and muted sandy, aqua, and cloudy colored pastels. With little movement, minute shades blending into themselves, the scene transforms into stilled waters suspended under dense, quiet clouds. Undertones of age show through the calmly presented pumice canvas, hinting towards the lapses of time. McNulty’s use of acrylics and rudimentary shapes allow him to disguise the simple setting and create an extraordinary image, filled with hidden meaning. Patches of broken hues suggest an utterly ancient world, one that has been lost at sea for quite some time. Such an aged impression displays the everlasting affect and truth of serenity. Only with time, portrayed through the rusted splashes of bronze, scattered throughout the soft gloom, is an ample maturity conceivable and able to convey this meaning of serenity. For serenity can only lead to content when a mature eye and mindset absorb its beautiful simplicity. A humble happiness is seen in the soft color palate of Amenity, relating the emotions that the sea awakens with the mood of the work. At first glance, the image induces a somber effect; however, with a prolonged viewing of the coloring and distribution of space, we uncover its true meaning, with a courteous calm, wiping away worry and dejection, it leads us into a floating ease. Here, McNulty perfectly embodies the truth of serenity, where time and age cannot change its meaning or powerful presence. For serenity, just as the sea’s simplicity, is forever.

Face in the Crowd

Everyone has tough times
Everyone has plights
Everyone feels lonely sometimes
But let that not stop you to see the light.
This man has lost it
His face is fading into a deep abyss
So full of sadness
Without any bliss
No one to help him
No one to care
Why does his life
Have to be so unfair?
He is plagued by his
Misfortune, unhappiness, and grief
Any warmth or love he has had
Has only been brief.
He is lonely and despaired
Wondering what he can do
To make his life less cold
To make it less blue.
He tries to mask his pain
But with little success
He hopes and prays
But only gets more stress.
Let him be an example
His expressions speak loud
He is what you should not strive to be
Just another face in the crowd.

Speak out. Be loud
Let the world know who you are
Be a unique person
Show that you can be bizarre.
Don't let the bad
Push out the good
Be an optimistic person
Is that understood?
Learn from your mistakes
Don't let them decide who you can be
Don't let them define who you are
Don't you agree?
So let this man show you
How you should live your life
Don't let the past control you
Forget your past strife.
Be with friends
Have more fun
Because you only have one chance in life
Your choices can't be undone
Be a fun person
Be a great guy
Don't take things too seriously
Before the final goodbye
This man was unhappy
Due to his shroud
He didn't live life to the fullest
He was just another face in the crowd.

Flesh in Harmony

A rainbow of flesh defines this drawing, from sunburn red to pasty white to mahogany brown the colors portray the spectrum of humanity. Amongst all the shades of skin lies an embrace of curves, two figures clasping one another in an isolated island of peace amongst the realms of chaos. Sharp lines divide the picture into a multitude of shapes. Like confetti. They’re scattered. Smash. Another piece falls away. Crack. Another part gone. Snap. Another bit of sanity lost. Break… Break… Break… Yet somehow the two figures still cling to one another, holding on to each other, keeping themselves from falling completely apart. Some otherworldly force seems determined to tear them to bits but still they fight it, gathering strength from their mutual connection. The world is fraught with danger, catastrophe, disaster, and there is little anyone can do to change that. Little by little the tragedies, big and small, chip away at one’s strength, one’s heart, even one’s soul. One of the only ways to ease the pain is to share it, to find a shoulder to cry on, to seek a comforting embrace. Humanity has survived time and time again because they can find this link, because they are able to reach out to that helping hand, and with absolute certainty they will have to do so again in the future. This artist has portrayed, with his fleshy coloring and faceless figures, both any man and everyman. The ultimate message being perhaps that no matter what shreds our lives as long as we share our compassion, our mercy, and our humanity with others, we will survive.

Life’s Evolution

Ceaseless movement of space and time are at the heart of Leger’s piece. Chock full of every color and shape imaginable, the piece itself truly is “the city”: full of wonder, ingenious…effervescent. Life is always moving, developing. Going, jumping. This is the key message. The chaos manifests the never-pausing nature of life. People get hurt, people die, buildings are razed, trees disappear; yet everything advances. People are born, buildings are erected, and trees are planted. Progress is made.
Industry shines through in the robot-like figures and angular, geometric forms. Bright and new replaces old and useless. Every small instant is overtaken by large, sweeping designs. Bold and bigger is better. Life is fleeting. Quiet, muted stillness is no longer the standard; noise is essential. Without these elements, there is no hope for life in this fast-pace world. There is no meaning, no movement. There is just blankness with no color, no buzz. What is left? Nothing. This is unsustainable. Life needs to move forward, not back. There is no room for the past. Flowing; past becomes present, present becomes future. Industry and expansion become the ever-impending future. Life becomes industry, always striving to produce perfection.
Leger envisions industry as a utopia in “The City”. Geometry, steel, pipes, bridges and skyscrapers are his heaven. Manifest Destiny is his god. Pandemonium is his mantra. Industry is the heartbeat of life and will continue until the end of time. “The City” with its rainbow of colors, wonder, ingeniousness, effervescence, boldness and rushed feeling, is life. It is a landscape that never stays still, every fiber seeming as if it only lasts a second before transforming into something else. There is no prediction as to what will come next and no way to stop it. As Bob Dylan sings in his song “The Times They Are A- Changin’”: “The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast/ the slow one now will later be fast/ As the present now will later be past/ The order is rapidly fadin’/ and the first one now will later be last/ for the times they are a-changin.”

Big-star-five

Blendingbrighttones!..Allmeldedtogether!...Cover the rim of DmirtyStepanoff’s Big-star-seven tentacles pull from everywhere!!..Stepanoff pulling colors and shades from all walks of the wonderful glorious picture psyched to be there colors mixing and melding and BOOM! Explosion mixes tones more but tentacles pull them all in again the viewer sees the big picture: a ravenousrainbow of brightexcitingcolors but at a closer look the individual quicklyandgloriously finds. Each. Of. The. Colors. By. Themselves. Discovering! new colors the eye hasn’t seen yet but then zooms out and all-the-colors-meld-together-once-again.. parts calm and still remain.. the rest of the painting is being pulled in by forces of energy each color showing stress-pressure -things making life more-exciting-more-colorful, hectic-ness positiveandnegative of life is conveyed through the busy and “shhhhhh”… calm parts of Big-star-five each parts of the painting eventually melding together making each brushstroke part of the big picture making each vivid color only part of a whole much like many small events in the course of a lifetime may all seem unimportant but they pull together to form someone’s story in this paniting it all mixes and little parts can be seen but don’t matter everything is part of the big.picture.

Curving and Swerving through Life

Life’s twists and turns, ups and downs, beginnings and ends, are each displayed in AJ LaGasse’s Samba as flashes of bright strokes contrast the smaller plain streaks of differing, yet varying colors. Demanding and attracting, eye catching, red darkened by shadows fills empty space that continues the journey of life, highlighting, reminding and outlining prominent events of a certain story, a single lifetime. Watery blue, calming and flowing, ranging from light to medium to dark, covering life’s continuous path, brings together numerous lives to witness. Dark, black, lacking light that begins to fade into large bloody, bright red strokes, something is coming, a birth, a new small being, the true beginning of youth, thought only a child, life is filled with happiness and continual shades of red until, maturity, grayed at first grows lighter and louder as life gets more thrilling, a young adult experiences life’s greatest and worst moments, getting older, wiser, life is good and happiness is abundant, memories are made, older, life is quickly and slowly changing, older, fading, forgetting, sickness, dying, skin paling and wrinkling, shrinking, growing smaller, thinner, fading, forgetting, dying, seeing yet again the demanding red that reminds, the end, no more room, forgotten, invisible, gone. Life is so quick, filled and overcrowded with numerous events, each with there own meanings, pushing and pulling life into differing directions, only to bring a single “story” to its ultimate end. LaGasse curved and swerved through life never halting, using contrasting colors and ranging strokes backed with plain red and calming blue to continue life even as one is ended.