Friday, November 16, 2007

Y ROBOT


... just because.

7 comments:

Poet said...

Again with the single eye. Not that I dislike it; it is an eerie addition to the piece. I wonder what its underlying meaning is.

Cool man.

Jack Snider said...

It's a Wally Wood influence I think.

Anthony Carpenter said...

It is, more than likely, a Freudian thing. It would appear our Mr. Snider is slightly obsessed with his wingle wangle.

Luck for us, his obsession leads to lots of kick-ass imagery like this. :)

Cool pe . . . er . . . robot, Sir! I like the coloration and the messy inking style.

(The above diagnoses is for entertainment purposes only. Mr. Carpenter is NOT a licensed Psychologist and his musings should not be taken seriously . . . even if he IS right.)

Jack Snider said...

Thanks for the praise and humor.

Here are some boring thoughts on the matter.

Often when we view an artist's work we will be unable to resist a certain amount of pop psychology and try to figure the artist out instead of the work. Critics do this constantly. Often it seems to reveal more about their obsessions than the artist's. Reading a picture is sometimes difficult. What the painting means to the viewer may have nothing to do with what was intended. To me that's okay. I can't make everyone understand a picture as I understand it. Some people come up with better interpretations than me.

All I can say is that to me the isolated cyclops character is an outsider, an observer. What better icon could you use for an artist feeling rejected by and standing outside his culture than a lone alien or robot with an large eye (or would you prefer enlarged ocular appliance;P)? That's how I feel most of the time and have since I can remember. When I started drawing things like this it was more of an intuitive choice than a conscious one. We all tend to latch onto symbols that we've absorbed through culture and then reinterpret them for our own needs. (I know this has the potential to devolve into a drippy EMO kind of kitschiness. Believe me I'm not an overly depressed person. I view the world mostly with an amused playful cynicism.)

Here are some other Monocular obsessives:


http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog
/2005/07/page/2/">Philip Guston

http://www.moma.org/images/
collection/FullSizes/00233038.jpg

http://www.frenchdrawings.org/
images/full/1966.29.jpg



Robots in themselves have a huge cache of meanings for humans born into an increasingly automated world. Ideas become widely used because they tap into some thought, feeling or concept that is widely held (but may be hard for most to express in words or to be even consciously aware of). Those concepts become instantly recognizable symbols. A picture paints a thousand words.



kitsch
noun
art, objects, or design considered to be in poor taste because of excessive garishness or sentimentality, but sometimes appreciated in an ironic or knowing way : the lava lamp is an example of sixties kitsch | [as adj. ] kitsch decor.

Jack Snider said...

I should also add that artists are often firmly latching on to huge subjects that loom large in their existence.

;)

Poet said...

OK, didn't mean for this to become a forum for speculative theories, though it is REALLY cool. I like the eye and wondered if it was an outsider-observer thing. It makes sense to me, given that I have known you for 33 years.

Jack Snider said...

Sorry if the conversation devolved into B.S. art school drivel. Basically art should speak for itself. Take it or leave it. It is what it is.