Self-Portrait of the Sky When Flying to Pittsburgh
Outside the plane, stars don’t leave the horizon.
They float in a cereal bowl, a Mother spooning through floating,
interstellar rice crispies.
We’re trapped inside, along with the 446 steel bridges in Pittsburgh.
Clouds wisp us into celestial angels, flying,
then turbulence. The Milky Way is just
light. Still, I want to digest it into remnants holding in my stomach.
I have never been to Pittsburgh. Neither have The Aliens.
Maybe they see half
of our planet drenched in ink, our speckling gold cites,
& think we are woven constellations.
I can’t help but think of the end. The tips of the plexiglass
are reddening. The clouds can’t hide it & nature
can’t swallow it. I imagine Hell as a pyre of all of us burning
on a dead planet.
In War of The Worlds, The Martians die from indigenous Bacteria.
Maybe that’s our end, the day we try to colonize their planet
with an ark of frozen bodies.
Loss of Hearing Clasped in Sea Shells
Medium: Acrylic, Charcoal, Paper, Glue, Earphones, Canvas
Size: 70in x 25in x 1in
One of my greatest fears from my hearing impairment is not being able to listen to music.
While in sixth grade, the audiologist told me I couldn't use earphones.
I juxtaposed different color schemes (warm vs. cold, colorful vs. black-and-white), forms (the unorthodox canvas), and mediums (charcoal vs. acrylic) to illustrate my fears. I am both the one holding the earphones and the one hanging from the giant ear (like an earring), trying to grasp it. The seashells are also like 'ears' since seashells supposedly sing the ocean's song.
For the 'blue' version of me, I attempted to employ an Edward Hopper-esque style, showcasing 'alienation' through muted warm colors (red, pink) against blue.
I found it difficult to get the anatomy of the hanging person correctly, even after trying to do the pose myself. This would be one area I want to improve.
The painting's compelling power dynamic (me vs. me) has helped me better understand my internal conflicts.