Alex in Wonderland
Oil on Canvas, 60cm x 80cm (approx. 24” x 32”), 2018
A figure, Alex, stands mostly naked in the midst of a physical and psychological maelstrom. He is clad only in nostalgic 80’s era socks, on a tenuous island between active waters and a variety of shark denizens. Sharks on the right side of the image are all beached, including a shark with quartz crystal nose, an orange shark wrapped in a life buoy, and a shark further in the distance wearing an 80’s style shirt with the number “88”. On the left side is the largest shark, wearing bright glossy red lipstick and brandishing prominent teeth with braces. She is cordoned off from the figure by a roped float divider, and within her thought bubble is a warning symbol.
Behind the figure, floating in the air, are Grey aliens emerging from the distance, out of a series of elliptical UFO shaped interdimensional membranes. The Greys take on the visual form of spermazoa ostensibly impregnating the interdimensional thresholds. As is typical, these Greys inhabit a zone just behind the unconscious topology of Alex’s dissociative mind.
Though Alex’s bottom half is representative, his top half mutates into a psychological cornucopia. In a manner akin to “Auto-Erotic Sphinx”, a predecessor work, the figure has self suctioned—an act of sensual infatuation, enjoyment, and exploration.
Upward exists the figure’s primary conscious eye, adorned with a revolutionary beret emblazoned with a Bitcoin badge. The figure’s summit features the nose of a fighter jet facing off against Mario Brothers Bullet Bills, one of whom is marked by a communist North Korean star. A cropped section of a UFO observes the contest.
Alex’s mind branches both left and right. To the left is more singular embodied consciousness, manifesting two eyes and a Ganesh trunk grasping crayons. The right branch dissociates upward diagonally, emerging into an array of eyes, faces, teeth, tail, a unicorn horn, and much more—all of which participate in expressing his unconscious being; a democracy of psychic factions representing thought impressions and associations. All illumination and darkness-- fernal, infernal, high consciousness and corporeal underbelly--reside in this realm.
In the distance are relatively languid, light clouds, and against the firmament hovers a colossal distant eye peering over the scene and far beyond.
This painting possesses underlying genetic traits with previous works such as “Auto-Erotic Sphinx with Toys”, “Dionysus”, and “Fuku-Shiva”. The work serves also as a nod to an earlier period of art inspiration during late teens and early twenties— born out of the nakedness, vulnerability, curiosity, and wonder inherent to coming of age and all subsequent psychedelic revelation.
Hey Cody, I came across your work some time ago while researching surrealism and I'm a big fan! I had no idea you posted on Steemit so it's nice to see you here :) I have included this post in my weekly curation Ocean of Art!
Julia, thanks so much for the feature on your weekly curation! I am very glad you were able to find me on here, and I greatly appreciate your respect for my work.
This is really lovable
Not only is the artwork excellent and outstanding, but the interpretation is also excellent and beautiful.
Hope to see more of this on steemit.
Steemit misses you.
Thank you so much for the attention and consideration of my efforts, and your kind words. I will try to engage more often with Steemit going forward. I have missed being more active here, too! :)
Hello @codyseekins, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!
@creativecrypto I very much appreciate the upvote. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm for creativity and blockchain. It is good to move into the new world, together. Be well and inspired.
I wish I would have caught this in time - such a shame that I cannot upvote and resteem it. I became aware of it because you uploaded it a couple of days ago to our private network on Ning.
I am also on Artisteem where I tried to publish a critique of the work, but there are bugs in the interface that frustrated my attempts.
I tried to write this:
My evaluation of this artwork:
Cody is perhaps one of the most bizarre surrealist painters in my private network. There is nothing out there that compares - once you know his work, you will immediately recognize his style anywhere. There may be imitators, but none can come up to the richness of imagination that he shows in his work. He is a superb painter who knows and handles his materials masterfully.
The colors are strong but harmonious, the composition lets the eye wander and discover details that lead the viewer into a fantasy world that goes well beyond the imagination of Lewis Carroll.
The piece shown here belongs to a cyclus of paintings he refers to as Psychedelic:
"The Psychedelic works are literally the rendering of mind manifest with no overt thematic filter shaping the body of paintings as a whole."
Otto Rapp BFA
As soon as I became aware of it, I featured it, with the full text, as a blog under the tab of FEATURED ARTWORK on the Visionary Art Exhibition site.
ALEX IN WONDERLAND by CODY A SEEKINS - VISIONARY ART EXHIBITION
your image of course links to your page in the VISIONARY ART GALLERY - and I am updating it as we speak with this latest work and the other one you uploaded.