Sunday, April 03, 2011

American Crocodile




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"And heaven, heaven is a place, 
a place where nothing,
nothing ever happens."

                             David Byrne, The Talking Heads



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Sometimes I think it's gone forever.




But then an image like this comes into being.




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I feel so lucky to have Photoshop. It gives me the ability to create what my soul hungers for in a way that I just can't do in any other medium. I need the strangeness I can create by juxtaposition of disparate imagery, and more than that I need the photographic realism of the image so it tells my eyes and my heart that what is being seen is no longer only imaginary. I need the ability to layer and grunge with organic detritus from the real world to give the image depth and coherence. I need the ability to transfigure light so the image reads as real to the engineer in my brain, the one who interprets space and depth and locality.

It is a way to give my dark soul voice in this world, and for it I will forever be grateful.


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I continue in my faults unabated.




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Namaste.



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19 Comments:

Blogger Ms. Moon said...

It's so hard to see with tusks in your eyes. It's so hard to reach out with hands in pockets.
Is this my grandfather?
I believe photoshop may have been invented for you, Scott.

1:09 PM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

Ms. Moon-


I dunno. He's maybe just doing the best he can. the world assaults us, doesn't it. There is something so fucking sad in this image, I can't pinpoint it.......


But photoshop?


I think you're right.


I don't think anyone else uses it the right way. I am forced to carry the banner.


ha.




love-


Scott

1:17 PM  
Blogger Lorraina said...

I've long loved your art Scott, don't know if i comment rarely or never, whatever, everything you do on PS is awesome. I am still very much a beginner and still using Elements and certainly not all of it or anything correctly. I've tried some little things like giving Mona Lisa a different look and so on - but very girly and beginnerish and also hard to find good images to use which brings me to my question - where do you find your people images? They are always so interesting but of course it's what you then do with them....keep up the good work!

5:09 PM  
Blogger Petit fleur said...

Love Mr. Crock.

Thank Goodness no food this time! I'm all curled up in bed, teeth brushed... The thought of some second rate snack after seeing and reading about morsels of delicacy would be just wrong. :-)

Nice work Scott.
Peace,
pf

5:25 PM  
Blogger Radish King said...

Photoshop is just another set of tools like a paintbrush or a pen. It doesn't matter what you use. Your art is so spectacularly YOURS that it knocks the breath out of me.

This piece I thought immediately of William Borroughs probably because I've been reading Naked Lunch and because it looks like the photo of him that ran in the New Yorker the day he died. I think this is his true face.

love,
Rebecca

9:01 PM  
Blogger Elizabeth said...

I thought of William Burroughs, too -- immediately!

9:43 PM  
Blogger deirdre said...

This is crazy good, and the crocodile man's eye reminds me of a horse's eye. It's very nuanced and evocative. A whole new art form. Pretty cool you.

xo
dd

6:55 AM  
Blogger susan t. landry said...

the art, as always, is sui generis;
but it is that
your faults remain unabated
that gives me hope that all
that is true
and worthwhile (call it the struggle) in this life remain unabated, as well.

7:49 AM  
Blogger Mel said...

Your photos always give me pause. They are so real and so surreal, I have to look deep into them every time. I love, love, LOVE art that makes you look and think. Do carry on unabated, will you? Thanks so much for sharing your special brand of craziness with the rest of us in the asylum.

8:15 AM  
Blogger 37paddington said...

i see the sad, too. it's in his posture maybe, and in his downcast eye.

full disclosure. masks terrify me, so he does not provoke empathy in me, but terror. i think he is all the more terrifying because he seems to be beyond feeling he can make anything different.

your art is the real deal, Scott. i imagine walking through a gallery and seeing it displayed on the walls. i would thrill to be in its three-dimensional presence.

and i think you have another series here. the mood, masks, the etched words.

i think the work is so deeply seamed in you that even if it sleeps for a minute, it will always reawaken. i think maybe you won't be able to help it.

hallelujah.

2:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

looks like a resident of st. petersburg, florida to me.

5:03 AM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

lorraina-

thanks for the kind words. To answer your question, I get my images mostly from Shorpy.com for the vintage photos, and all the other stuff I either shoot myself or grab from other places on the internet- typically whatever strikes me just goes into a file for later.

Thanks for commenting, and glad to see you here.

6:28 PM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

PF-

Thanks. Always good to know you're around. And enjoying yourself.

yrs-


tearful

6:28 PM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

Rebecca-

Yep, this has Burroughs all over it, huh?


What would we do without our art?


I don't want to imagine it.



Be strong, keep forging ahead in your work. Come by any time you need a lift or to scream your head off, whatever.


love-

tearful

6:30 PM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

Deirdre-

I saw that horse's eye as well. I think it's that circle in the skull, that long nose that makes you think it, and then the sweet, downcast eye...poignant.

thank you. always.

love-


tearful

6:32 PM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

Susan-

Now that is a wonderful sentiment. You always make me feel so good with everything you say here.

I'm glad for your company and feel much improved by it.

yrs-


tearful

6:33 PM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

Mel-

you are welcome.


i think this is a pretty nice asylum, myself. glad you're here!


yrs-


tearful

6:34 PM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

Angella-

I see the scary monster, too, but he's to sad to really freak me out. But you're right not to trust him.

I'm so grateful to you. I fear this sounds trite or simpleminded, but I'm just damn glad we are friends, and you say the most amazing and insightful things, you always bring more than I feel I deserve. But I'll take it gladly!


love-


tearful

6:36 PM  
Blogger tearful dishwasher said...

Kay-

Now you really nailed it there. I knew I'd seen the son of a bitch somewhere before.

Woot.


yrs-


Scott

6:37 PM  

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