SPQR (getting nailed by romans)

Pride of the Romans

and a little surprise

etsy account

When we see a movie about ancient Rome we should ask ourselves were’s the cock? We have a double ended image of ancient Rome, on one tip we have Spartacus, on the other we have Caligula, but we forget there is a lot of sliding space in between, that cock worship was a VERY important part of our culture for as long as we have had culture. Young fresh brides would give their virginity to the gods before getting married. Straddling a penis fetish, making sure their hymen was broken the day before their wedding. A sacred act, you didn't want to get married if you didn't know the love of a god first. Our modern virginal bride in white is dull and incredible by comparison. Pretending to be like Mary will not make your son like Jesus.

As the catholic church rose to dominance penises on roman statues where chiseled off in a collective societal castration ritual. Roman popular beliefs in an over sized engorged throbbing phallus as a sign of good luck were not shared by early clergy. Culturally we are left thinking that fig leaves and Ken's bump are the proper public perceptions of male anatomy, penis is shame full.The irony is inescapable.

waiting for the thrust of modernity

We love our orgasms but few can admit it, they help remind us we are bound the creative cycles of this reality. We are bridle trained from an early age to be ashamed of our our bits and pieces. We are not taught how being able copulate like rabbits and not procreate like them is what makes our sex lives different from other creatures. We have collective imperative in the western world to get over our frigidity recognizing all of the gifts we have been given. We need to actualize a little of the temple prostitute within us.

http://joshuacosimo.com/section/286911_THE_RAPE_OF_EUROPA.html

I have always had a graphic tendency towards phallus. They fill the tight gap between skulls and pinup girls nicely. They are subtle, natural, and traditional.
I take interns to do different jobs with me, a few years ago I had a delicate young lady who was eager to learn and please. I asked her to draw me a couple of dongs to use as cow horns in a design. Her first attempts were vestal, flaccid, and unpalatable. Her second attempts were more aroused and carnal. I finally told her to go out and do some hands on research.

The studio where I produce my work had a student who did a series of prints using curse words and body parts. There are two rules of thumb we should use to judge these types emissions. First, you should ask yourself if what you are saying with the curse words is penetrating. Second, if you're going to use schlong in your art at least make it regal, respectful, and beautiful. My biggest problem with their work was not the use of cocks, nor the use of curse words, rather the unattractiveness of the imagery. Visually you can produce whatever you want if it's insightful and well executed. Everything else is just pollution.

Asspirations (versione Italiano)

Know Your Limits.

Ho iniziato questa nuova avventura un anno fa dopo aver incontrato un gallerista, l’incontro organizzato da un attore TV italiano. Lei si dimostrò molto ricettiva della mia opera, metà della mia opera … Fu rapita da quei quadri che trasudavano vita, una bellezza arcaica che è organica e fluida. Questa è l’opera che io considero preghiera. Arriva attraverso di me, ma non è mia ed è solo la metà delle mie esplorazioni. La metà della mia opera con cui non comunicava  era quella in cui l’immagine giocava un ruolo primario. Alla fine mi disse che si sarebbe incontrata con me per discutere come gestire il mio lavoro, ma che se lo avesse fatto io non avrei dovuto e non avrei potuto fare alcuna opera in cui la grafica non fosse proprio la mi. Hmmm

Wall in Piazza Puccini Firenze Italia

 Quando ho iniziato a studiare seriamente l’incisione, la mia ossessione era l’idea di riproduzioni automatiche. La serigrafia divenne per me il riflesso di ciò. Selezionavo le strade per immagini, poi replicavo le immagini o le incollavo direttamente sulla tela. Tagliando ed incollando, tentavo di riprodurre l’effetto delle superfici che mi circondano quotidianamente.

Il bello di essere un artista è che puoi portare avanti i tuoi pensieri e controllandoli appena, evocare nello spettatore intuizioni che sono sia personali sia plurali. Quando vedo una pubblicità mi chiedo sempre che cosa mi stia dicendo. Quando vedo strati di messaggi assieme, le conclusioni diventano diverse, disordinate e confuse, diventano statica visiva.

Judgement Day

L’anno scorso ho creato una serie chiamata “Asspirations” ispirata a Piazza Puccini a Firenze. Lo spazio è dominato da una enorme fabbrica di sigarette fascista, pannelli cadenti appesantiti dal confronto ne fiancheggiano i lati. Prostitute trans dai grandi seni e dalle labbra turgide la decorano. Piazza Puccini è il miglior esempio di piano urbanistico contemporaneo a Firenze. La sua capacità come spazio artistico non pretenzioso che si sviluppa organicamente è divino. E’ il riflesso moderno di una casa degli specchi degli antichi muri affrescati delle numerose chiese di Firenze. La piazza è riccamente stratificata, i suoi messaggi in cambio divengono dissociati e surreali.

Highness

Tutta l’atmosfera è a pensarci provocante. Dico alle ragazze “buon lavoro” mentre passo e loro sorridono salutando concitatamente con la mano, vedendo un viso familiare. E’ molto dolce e molto ambizioso. Tutti questi elementi visivi consentono la creazione del momento, della sensazione e del luogo.  

Hollywood Divorce

“Asspirations” era la creazione di una superficie stratificata di immagini che si riferivano ad un’idea. Strappare e tagliare parti di informazioni e poi creare asserzioni più complesse.

Questa esperienza mi ha insegnato che tutte queste esplorazioni personali sono valide e necessarie. Sono parte del mio viaggio visuale attraverso questo mondo. La mia prerogativa ed il mio imperativo artistico di rappresentare ciò che sento sono il miglior gergo possibile per comunicare un concetto. Se scelgo di usare la mia mano o di rielaborare il lavoro di altri, il risultato finale non si svaluta. Ho comunque risposto alle sue richieste ed ho iniziato a mescolare la mia voce distinta con la pluralità che si trova nei mezzi di riproduzione automatica.  

Visual Mythologies: Asspiratons

Know Your Limits.

I began this new adventure one year ago after meeting with a gallerist organized by an Italian television actor. She was very receptive to my work, half of my work.  She was entranced by those Paintings that dripped with life, an archaic beauty that is organic and flowing. This is the work that I consider prayer. It comes through me but is not of me, and is only half of my explorations.  The half of my work she did not respond to was that which found imagery played a major role. She finally told me she would meet with me to discuss handling my work but if she did I should not and could not do any work where the penmanship was not my own. Hmmm

Wall in Piazza Puccini Firenze Italia

When I began seriously studying printmaking my obsession was with ideas of automatic reproduction. Silk screening became a reflection of that for me. I would cull the streets for imagery then reprint that imagery or glue it directly to the canvass. Cutting and pasting I attempted to reproduce the effect of the surfaces that surround me daily.

One beauty of being an artist is that you can put your thoughts forward and by controlling them slightly, arouse within the viewer insights that are both personal and plural. When I see an advertisement I always ask myself what it is saying to me. When I see layers of messages together conclusions become different, muddled, and confusing, it becomes visual static.

Judgement Day

Last year I created a series called "Asspirations" inspired by Piazza Puccini in Firenze. The space is dominated by a huge fascist cigarette factory cascading billboards heavy with conversation flanking its sides. Huge breasted, puffy lipped trannie prostitutes decorate it. Piazza Puccini is the best example of contemporary urban planning in Florence. Its capacity as an unpretencious artistic space that develoups organically is devine. It is a modern funhouse reflection of the ancient religious wall frescos in Florences numerous churches. The Piazza is richly layered, its messages in turn become dissjointed and surreal.

Highness

 The whole atmosphere is thought provoking, I tell the girls "buon lavoro" when I pass, they smile waving excitedly to see a familiar face. It is very sweet and  very ambitious. All these visual elements allow for the creation of  moment, feeling, and that place.

Hollywood Divorce

 "Asspirations" was about creating a surface layered with imagery that related to one idea. Tearing and cutting  parts of information away then creates more complex statements.
This experience has taught me all these personal explorations are valid and necessary. They part of my visual journey through this world. It is my artistic prerogative and imperative to draw upon what I feel is the best possible vernacular to convey a statement. If I choose to use my own hand or reprocess the work of others it does not devalue the end result. I did however respond to her demands and began to enmesh my distinct voice with plurality that is found in automatic reproductive media.

Veil

This print began in the form of a painting stuffed in the back of a storage room. Rather than dig it out I decided to make a repeat pattern design based on it. The concept of a veil is that there are certain places and formations on earth that open into other dimensions. They change your perception in such a way that when you return to our dimension you are changed. When I was a child there was a special place in the woods near my house. I would play there and loose my days in a mass of uncounted hours, I understand now that I was experiencing a veil. This is a three quarter brick drop repeat, the connecting pieces where reformulated three times to adjust the math in the printing. If the math is off slightly it may not show up in the beginning of the printing but as the image needs to be repeated, the larger it becomes the more it distorts.

These first four images capture my working process of formulating this repeat, The design that I am working on turned out to be totally wrong. The math was off and it didn't show its weakness until I had printed a meter, after words it began to print totally off, there was no amount of adjustment that could save it not to mention when I started to add colors.

I had to redraw the whole piece, central medallion and joining pieces as one print so there would be lesser chance of distortion. After that I could start adding overlapping color prints with a great deal of accuracy.

After a few trial printings I gain a comfort with my screens and their printing order. I make the first print with 1 dark piece, the base, then i build on that trellis as a way to repeat it, on the first test all other printings aside from the original are printed in light grey or green. This allows me to see what the basic element looks like.

I print several tests before I print my style sheet that shows the design as the finished product.

This is a step by step description of the printing of a sample, A three quarter brick drop a-symmetric print is a pain in the ass, nerve wracking, but the results make it totally worth it.

I like to use silver spoons for my ink cause its classy.

This little guy is Aection who was torn to death by his own hounds after Diana turned him into a stag for looking on her in a private moment. The hunter becomes the hunted.

This project has led me into my next grouping, I am increasingly interested in sacred geometry and symbolism and the way they transport us by changing our perception of everyday life. 

                                   all printing was done at art studio fuji, via guelfa 85 firenze

Joy and metamorphisis (the Loving Cup)

This a design inspired by two elements from eastern and western symbology. The papagallo represents the joy of life, the cherry blossoms are the changing of times and how every metamorphisis bring somyhing diffrent but equally beautifull.

this is a small painting I did in june 2011 on Fabriano paper

this is a painting from my wundergarten series it is 1 meter by 1 meter

                                           

 Together they formed the base for this design

This is a step by step process of every screen the first black and white designs are to lay out the framework for the successive colors. I register everything by eye so each element has to interlock without showing breaks. 

 The printing process is layered to soften certain details of the image. Each pass of color builds the surface making it rich and painterly.

 The grey is printed before the red of the cherries. After the red is printed the grey areas become redd tinted shadows on the fruit.

 The birds and the flowers are handled with seperate sets of screens, They where designed in two diffrent stages. The yellow of the ribbon is printed with a slightly more saturated color to make it subtley diffrent from the ribbon running through the cherry blossoms.

 A dark blue-grey is added to create soft shadows on the foliage in the center of the composition.

 the final touch is the hi-lights on the cherries. It is printed with semi opaque colors that block out all underlying printing.

The print is a repeat pattern composed of two diverse images that were cobined to form a running border that can continue indefiantly. The printing is made up of 30 diffrent passes with overlapping colors that when printed correctly make an unbroken design. I took these pictures while printing a sample of 2 meters the repeat is every 85 centemeters for a full repetition of 1 meter 15 centemeters.