I was asked to submit an image for a collection of art work for a friend’s art magazine. The theme was very open ended, the idea being women and science fiction. A blank piece of paper might as well be a mountain. I had no idea what to make. Now, if you and I sit down to lunch, allowing me to enjoy your company as you are unquestionably enjoying mine, and if given enough time (not exceeding 20 minutes), I will go into some banter on the topic of science, science fiction, new technologies, or make some Back to the Future reference. In other words, I like this stuff. Alas, sitting at my desk trying to think of what to draw was like trying to stand up to Biff Tannen. When faced with such freedom, I like many find that I have been given a soapbox and suddenly nothing to say. I’ve been in this situation before and always think back to this class I used to take in stage improvising. My teacher would say, “Why pay for therapy, when you can just say it all on stage for free?” With a slight adjustment in perspective I was able to take a wonderfully open idea, about the progress of women, the adventures of the imagination, and the fluidity of art, etc. and funnel all that stuff down down down until it was it’s most rudimentary element: My narcissism. So I made this image with nothing more than the frustration of relationships on my mind trying to show the “turn the other cheek” mentality of compassion to the blinding ferocity of black and white logic.
An afterthought: Finding other planets to live on is kind of saying that this one is irreparable. I’d like to think that everything has another shot.