Patience, Technology and Art

                                    (Property of 20th Century Fox)                                                     (Property of Warner Bros. Pictures)

Patience can yield so much. Want to see why James Cameron waited 15 years to make Avatar? Why George Lucas carefully planned the prequels to Star Wars? Why Steven Spielberg deliberately held scripts for years before creating some of the greatest movies ever? Watch 'Dreamscape' w/ Dennis Quaid (1984). It's roughly the same premise as Chris Nolan's 'Inception' but that's when the positive comparisons stop. The technology in 1984 couldn't support the dream movie idea and it equaled one huge dreamy failure. It's actually laughable. One thing I've learned over the years is that some of the best art comes from patience. Yep, I've been told it's a virtue.

-js

Juxtapoz Magazine - February 2011 issue

                                                                                     (Property of Juxtapoz Magazine)

Juxtapoz is the go-to magazine for progressive artistic expression. I picked up my first Juxtapoz magazine 6 years ago and have been hooked ever since. The cover of February 2011 was done by Spanish artist, Escif, and in the legacy of The Sun Also Rises, the piece is called "Spanish Passion."

"Precious" - Movie review

 

                                                                                           (Property of LionsGate)

I've talked to many, many people about this movie and I have gotten mostly negative responses from almost every person. Most of the complaints are about the graphic nature, the campy flashbacks and the ending. I think about Art all the time and one thing I know for sure is that not all Art is going to make you happy. Effective Art makes you think, but great Art can actually transform thought. I am an Artist because I am curious. I am constantly trying to figure out ways to solve problems and convey ideas by using alternative solutions, and through this curiosity, I am constantly compelled to think. I thought about all of the aspects of the movie that I enjoyed and they clearly outweighed anything I didn't like.

Literacy is power and it is something we all take for granted. Self love is power and it is something that many spend a lifetime chasing, yet never find. ‘Precious’ is compelling to me because her struggle was reversed. Her educational, sexual and emotional inadequacies were what she desperately yearned for, yet her willingness to not let herself fall victim to her condition lifted her into a space in which she loved herself.

Despite intense pain- she had the capacity to love not only herself, but more importantly, her children. I think ‘Precious’ transcends race, age and creed. It’s a story about hope, wrapped in a fiery blanket of destruction. The beautiful thing about this movie (and Art in general) is that it seems as though we can all look at this film and see ourselves in it. Most of the random and candid thoughts of the human psyche are eerily conveyed and painfully confronted. If nothing else, ‘Precious’ is a social document that has the ability to transform thought and could even provide a platform for change in Hollywood- and possibly America.

-js

"To Nurture a Child" - Oil painting

Few subjects interest me as much as American slavery, especially in South Louisiana. I was inspired by the thorough and profound relationship between slave Nannies and their Master’s children. The mother and child nurturing process is special and incredibly important in fostering a child’s love - but what happens when the Caucasian mother is replaced by a West African slave? A slave who has had her own children taken from her, yet she is given full responsibility of her Master’s children - including duties such as scolding and even breastfeeding when possible. As most mothers know: these duties build an unbreakable bond.

There have been so many misconceptions about slave Nannies for so many years in popular culture. From the incendiary stereotypes in Hollywood to the Aunt Jemima syrup in your pantry - our understanding of WHO they were and WHAT they did has been skewed.

I wanted to capture the emotion of the relationship and most importantly, celebrate their lives. Racism is learned, just like love. I want to think that all of the children that were raised by slave Nannies were at least exposed to the sensitivities of their caretaker and grew up to become more sensitive to slavery than their parents, but that can’t be proven.

So what is that at the bottom of the painting? Tobacco was a cash crop and the process took at least 15 months from sewing the seed to selling for profit in Europe. I included it in this painting because I wanted to establish the correlation between cultivating the crop and raising a child from birth, a child that is not yours. Even though slaves invested blood, sweat and tears into tobacco, it did not belong to them and they saw no profit from it. Being owned or not, the idea that they could put so much into something that benefited them in no way is intriguing to me. Although the Nanny and child relationship was very similar, at least their investment into the child was returned through innocent, unbiased love.

-js

"Never really there" - Oil painting

Miles Davis single-handedly revolutionized the world of music. Although his musical presence was holistic and dominating- he was a divided man. His time was divided. His love was divided. His audiences in the states were even divided. But when he went to Paris he found acceptance, both racially and musically. He found love- and what he was searching for, for so long, was actually inside of him.

The right side of the painting is purposely vague and is inspired by George Seurat's pointillism paintings. Seurat was a French post-impressionist painter who is famous for using thousands of colorful dots in close proximity to create an illusion of blended color when viewed from a distance. My version of Seurat's style symbolizes Miles' creativity being stifled while in the United States because of various reasons- including racial tensions of the Civil Rights era, his dysfunctional home, his drug addiction and his creative oppression by the record label. 

But when he played in Paris, he said himself that his music sounded 'better' and he had no creative limitations. His musical output flourished. He felt alive for the first time in his life. His dream was realized. Much of this was fueled by his newly found French love interest and his audience being colorblind.

The left side of the painting is painted using realism principles to reinforce the clarity of his mind and the vivid sound of his trumpet when he was in France.

-js