SPECTRUM 19

My piece "Insolent Mockery of the Divine Under Centrist Rule" is featured in the latest edition of seminal fantastic art annual Spectrum. They pack a lot of work into this large book, so I was happy that my piece was given a full page all to itself.

As with all of the past Spectrum books this edition is full of some really great work, from several hundred different artists and is worth picking up.

Cover art by Brom. Thanks to Cathy Fenner for the reminder!

DYSTOPIC KIT SHIPPING

The Dystopic model kits are all packed up and are being shipped out. Thanks to everyone that bought one!

A second kit is already in the works, and a third one planned, so hopefully we'll have another EK/Industria Mechanika release sometime in 2013. 

I'll post updates early next year.

ALL WATCHED OVER BY MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE

This one was inspired by the title of Adam Curtis's 2011 documentary series All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace. In this three part series Curtis argues that we adopted machine like thinking, and have come to believe that computers/technology could stabilize our societies and liberate humanity. In Curtis's view, these efforts have failed, and has left humanity less free and has given us a warped view of reality.

Curtis borrowed the title from a poem, and a book of the same name published in 1967, by American writer Richard Brautigan. Brautigan, living and working in California in the 1960's (including a stint as poet-in-residence at the California Institute of Technology), was possibly influenced by the "Californian Ideology", the ideology that promoted the computer-utopian ideas that Curtis criticizes in his documentary. In his poem, Brautigan envisions a future world where technology merges with nature, humanity is freed from its labor and mankind, nature and technology join together in some sort of harmonious balance.

I didn't try to consciously convey Curtis's or Brautigan's ideas through this piece. It just started as an image that popped in my head when I read the title, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, and then evolved as I worked up the initial sketch and started painting. That being said, I guess my thoughts concerning this piece conform more to Brautigan's vision, as I see the orbs in this piece as mechanical shepherds, protecting and watching over our traveler along his journey. Even though he is tired and worn, they push him on. He remains motivated, his gaze is firmly fixed on his goal and his journey is almost over.

This mirrors my own feelings as I finish up the last few pieces in this series.

If you haven't checked out any of Adam Curtis's work before I highly recommend it. He has some great documentaries. The Century of Self (2002),  and The Power of Nightmares (2004) are a couple of my favorites of his. I agree that sometimes the connections made can be stretched pretty far, but his documentaries are generally interesting, entertaining and well put together. As for Brautigan, he passed away in 1984. I had never heard of him before I watched Curtis's documentary. I haven't read any of his other work, and I don't even really care for the poem...... but what a great title!

More details at my Flickr.

WIRED - CYOA

Here is an illustration I did for the latest issue of Wired magazine. It was for an article on the old Choose Your Own Adventure series of books. My older brother had a stack of Choose Your Own Adventure paperbacks that I used to read through when I was a kid (and my Dad still has them at the house last time i checked). I really enjoyed them back then, so getting a chance to work on something related to the series was a pleasure.

As I was drawing on my childhood memory and emotion, my original sketches for the illustration were much more playful (as seen below), and put a lot more emphasis on the books, and elements from the article. But Wired was looking for something more akin to my "EK" illustrations and wanted something a little more ambiguous as they felt this would appeal more to their mature readership, so we ended up with the image above, with it's restrained colour scheme and more serious forms. In the image the concept of choice is represented subtly, and is somewhat overshadowed by the sense of danger. We also decided to bleed the image out of it's frame to allow it to merge with the body of the article.

This issue is out on the shelves (and in tablet form), and as is the case with Wired, is filled with cool and interesting stuff. Big thanks to Gus Wezerek for his thoughts, input and the gig!