I don’t normally write long form blog posts about my paintings or any pieces of work really but I thought I would start doing so in 2020.
Before getting into my latest painting I must first touch on the series I’m working on. In 2019 I had the idea to create a series of works where I would fuse elements derived from significant paintings in art history with familiar modern media elements including, but not limited to, music, anime, video games, and film iconography. The settings of the works would be the fictional world of Onion City, a place heavily inspired by my home town of Chicago, as well as the many places I’ve experienced in my life. The subjects of the series would be none other than my original characters who I’ve been developing for a few years now. This series is a very exciting way for me to create works of fine art that bring together my many interests, influences, inspirations, and original characters in one original setting. Initially the idea was that this series would be strictly for a solo exhibit but after working on 2 pieces I’ve come to realize this could be my “thing”.
The “thing” I’m speaking on is that which makes a piece “your” piece with “your” style. I create a lot of different things and I work on various creative projects. But each of those projects serve their own purpose. For example, my original comic book, Onion City Chronicle, is meant to serve as my creative outlet where I tell the story behind each of my original characters and bring people into my world of Onion City. It’s a story set in a cyber punk fantasy world of tomorrow that will deserve its own blog post once finished. Now, I may create larger illustrations and paintings of the characters from Onion City Chronicle, and those larger pieces may be based on cool comic panels that I want to see fully rendered. After all, I present my art as something that is very narrative driven where different pieces can represent panels within the same story board. With all of that said, moments in life will always inspire different things. A new film, a new song, or the discovery of an old classic work may get my mind flowing and what better way to express those inspirations than through an endless series that I’ve named, renamed ,and named again, only to land on the following name of “Future Nostalgia,” for now at least.
It went from “Nostalgia”, to “Nostalgia ULTRA” to “Nostalgia 89” and now “Future Nostalgia”. The biggest influence on the name of this series is Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia ULTRA. Nostalgia ULTRA was the name of Frank Ocean’s debut mixtape. This was a very important album for me in my college years and I feel it stood the test of time as it is still a project I go back and listen to. Maybe I do it for the nostalgia factor, who knows . Overall, I felt like the whole aesthetic, the themes, and the nostalgic media elements within this project give this surreal feeling that is truly unique. The songs focused on relationships, personal reflection, and social commentary and that is what I want to do most with my art. Basically I want my art to give people the feeling I have when listening to Frank Ocean, I know crazy right?
