The Underworld Ain’t Nothing to an Underdog

2015

graphite, watercolor, India ink, illustration pens, tea stain, and gouache on butcher paper wheat-pasted to foamcore

48x24in.

This work addresses the sometimes overwhelming nature of an individual’s environment and the thick skin a person must develop. The figure is taken apart, dissected, to be studied and made part of “the machine.” The literal machine in the painting cannot function without it’s fuel source, the subject, and is an analogy to the importance of every individual within their group, job, community, and so forth. The symbiotic relationship is not always mutually beneficial and this metaphorical dissection can initially take its toll on a person until they’re used to it, acclimated to the situation. This enables a person to take on more, thus repeating the process until such environments and situations are effortless to maneuver. The title and horns on the top of his head are a homage to my older work, Very Unwise… and To the Unknown… for example. The wheat-paste adhering the paper to the foamcore soaked through and reactivated the water color, making it bleed out of the lines and I mimicked this happy accident on the vertical borders.