A MANS PURGATORY

 

This graphite piece was done with a .5mm led pencil. This creative piece may look to some like a malevolent machination of hell but holds a much more profound and light meaning despite its dark imagery. This piece captures the essence of death and what come with it; with any death/ end in life comes loss and the process of detachment. I created this piece to help individuals with grieving. It holds the message of death being temporary and life being eternal. 

 

 

DEEP BREAK DOWN OF ART PIECE AND SYMBOLISM

This piece is about a fictional man who fought in war and his process of cleansing his soul through purgatory. I started this piece in a very organic way not in segments. I started with the face at the bottom. It’s skin stretches and pulls revealing eyes in between the flesh; the the many eyeballs represent witnessing, and the melting skin represents feeling. I drew flames to burn the flesh this is symbolic of the pain and suffering that comes with death. if you flip your perspective fire is also one of the earths most powerful purification processes. So the suffering may hurt but it’s a process of cleansing yourself from your attachments. I then drew the stretched face purging a snake from its mouth. Biblically snakes symbolize death, poison, destruction, and evil. the most popular biblical snake is Satan guise as a snake to tempt eve against gods command of not eating the forbidden fruit. So snakes can also symbolize sin and temptation. I deliberately made the face purge a snake to further profound the message of purifying the soul, I wanted emphasize that so individuals suffering great loss can inherit the knowledge of the pain, distress and suffering that comes with death is part of the process of removing yourself from what you hold on to. Furthermore I created the snake raveling up the center of the piece to create a boundary to show the transition of death to life; before I dive into that I must explain more in depth about the center piece. The center piece represents the pure evils that this individual experienced, the snake representing his sins, the skull with turban that has a chess board pattern on it symbolizes the black and white battle of war he was apart of; war holds the worst of humanity from, mass genocide, death of innocent, rape, torture, destruction to Mother Earth and much more inhumane and unjustified acts. This individual was apart of that and has to suffer the consequences of feeling the portion of pain he inflicted in this world; every action has a consequence. At the very top where the snakes head is visible you see a hand coming out its mouth unveiling a third eye under the turban this has a very deep meaning to it the hand is holding up the turban so the third eye can witness all that is before it. There’s no hiding from death you must face it head on. In Hinduism the third eye is located on the forehead this represents intuition and insight so the hand isn’t just showing the eye the unholiness before it; it’s also making it understand it through his intuition. From left to right of the center piece shows a transition of death and life; on the left you see old wrinkly eyes in compartments this symbolizes old age and decay; panning down you see a man holding a AK-47 this is just imagery of his connection to war and how his life of survival became dependent on his rifle. You will also notice a winding devil horn protruding from the center piece this is a mirror of the acts of unholiness he served in are close tied to the devil and his agenda. Transitioning to the right of the center piece is all about life and its ongoing infinite nature. The eyes In compartments changed to eyes in between DNA chains this is an indication of rebuilding life foundations on a molecular level. You will also notice staircases in the compartments going up or down depending on how you look at it this is another nod to life’s infinite nature. Under the DNA strands you will find the man himself that has lived through this traumatic past. I drew his face with his eyes closed, the feeling he emits with his face is contempt; he has finally surrendered to his past and understands what he has done and the actions he caused however he must move on. With his arm extended forward he lets the entity of death (the grim reaper) take him to what life has in store for him. The man has cleansed himself of what he was attached to from his loved ones, sins, regrets, fond memories, it was all burned away. The process of purging and purifying after death can feel like demons tearing you apart but depending on how you look at it; it can be angels guiding you. Death is a bittersweet experience it’s bitter when it comes to healing, understanding and cleansing it and sweet when you are presented with new life.  

 

 

 

For anyone suffering great loss I wish resilience and strength upon you. 

 I like to take in consideration of how redwood forest are. They have a tannic acid infused in their bark this allows them to be resilient and resistant to fire. The fire actually helps them grow more in numbers by providing nutrients to the soil and unveiling buds underneath there bark to grow new leaves. So be strong like nature and prevail through the hardships life throws at you, you will grow and transcend beyond what you expect.