The Making of An Accessory to Absurdity

This painting is a milestone for me. It is the first encaustic painting I have done since the late 1980’s. What I always loved about encaustics is that the colors don’t age. So one can look at encaustic paintings, like the Egyptian Fayum portraits from the 3rd century, and the colors are exactly the same as they were the day they were painted. My encaustics from the 1980’s are now in the Arizona State University Art Museum. I haven’t done more since because it was too dangerous when my kids were around, hot plates, a burning industrial air blower, etc.

In this painting I was able to achieve some effects you can’t usually get with wax. Like throwing paint, which is very hard with wax because it cools so fast. I also let the wax drip in some places creating a varied texture throughout.

Unlike my early encaustics this one is very bright. It has references to my recent involvement with web3, the dense and dank, the tungsten cube, the green of Pepe, etc. It is hard for me to describe the meaning of this painting in more words than the title. In the animation of it I tried to highlight the parts’ meaning by giving them the appropriate movement and speed. One might think of the fluttering winged creature as a symbol for needing to constantly work at staying afloat. One might see the flopping fish as a struggle to breath in an unsuitable environment. One might see the swinging humanoid as the on and off of inspiration. One might see the face in the rock and the tiny creatures as hidden life in small things. And then one may see all of this differently which is the beauty of paintings, there is not one way to see them. The absurdities in this painting remind me of the meme “fuck around and find out”, which is also about the logic of absurdity.

There are six elements in motion, each moves at a different rate. To achieve that I had to create 26 layers. So each moving part remains in the same position for one or more frames depending on how fast it needs to move. To make the winged creature hover I made his wings move fast, so they actually change in every frame. I wanted the fish to flutter a little slower, so I made it hold each position for 2 frames. The swing moves through four stages in order to make the movement more realistic. So each position of the swing lasts through 3 frames except at the extreme positions which are 4 frames each. The swing also has a little bounce when it comes back where it goes to the second position for only 2 frames and returns to the forward most position. The figure on the swing becomes smaller as it swings back. The face in the rock and the mice/creatures next to it move less frequently, every 6 frames, but when they move they hold the new position for just one frame and immediately return to their original position in the next frame. The man’s leg moves the slowest of all the parts and goes through 3 positions to make it look more natural. Each position lasts for 6 frames.