Hate’s Caress is a Sweeter Comfort than Any Other

2017

graphite; watercolor; gouache; illustration pens; Faber-Castel pens; black, white, and red India ink; oil pastels; black acrylic paint; Milo’s tea stain; Lipton tea stain; and gesso

48x28in.

Addressing aggression. This work marks where I decided to deeply invest in the characterization of each figure to create a more authentic connection with the viewer. Firstly, I decided to depict a woman to test myself in painting a human form different from my own. I was also seeing a disproportionate amount of “sad” women in the art around me at the time and it didn’t match with the reactions of women I knew and wanted to represent them with their permission. You can see her dress is fresh. She’s got the special occasion, big-hoop earrings on. Her nails are done. Her hair’s done. All the things implying how hard she had to work to acquire these material possessions and now that she’s able to enjoy them, and in her eyes, look good, she now feels good. And it’s the clash of her achievements against “the machine” that angers her. “Hate” in the title is used as an extreme synonym encompassing anger, aggression, and frustration. This piece is in no way preaching violence, but explains that anger is as much of a basic emotion as happiness or sadness. These feelings are an essential part of the human experience and to deny them is to deny oneself an outlet. It’s unhealthy to keep frustration bottled up, but instead of acting on these urges, use this hate constructively. I chose to depict a woman because I saw a lack of representation in my immediate environment of women who may be frustrated with a situation but continue to work through it as opposed to how many are actually in my life. But the message applies to everyone. Going through everyday life, dealing with “the machine,” a person will inevitably get angry to some degree, and that’s okay, but it’s best to use this aggression as fuel instead of the machine using you for fuel.