My Art Has Meaning: Let Go

Title: “Let Go”
Medium: Black Ink (Pen) on Paper
School of Art: Fantasy
Original Size: 8″x8″
Creation Date: 2005

I’ve always had a thing about the cliche angelic and demonic side of an individual, and displaying it was equally difficult. I would have these bottled up fits of explosive silent rage when people would judge what they couldn’t understand, that I wanted to show in a work of art. At the time, pencil was not good enough for me, and pen was basically the only tool around worth drawing with. I liked the idea that I couldn’t go back and “fix it”. The chaos of the pen strokes, both deliberate and not made the statement that I was looking for.

On the right with the closed and raised wing is the demon clenching the stone beneath her with her claws and reaching out forward while flexing her muscles and ripping through the angelic robe constraints. The left shows the angel letting go and collapsing on her sword. While she is falling her wing is outstretched toward the ground and she is sliding on the stone making dust off of the gnarly, ridged terrain.

Back when this was created, I was experiencing tough times with my family, the looming decision of school in terms of what I wanted for myself, and what my parents wanted for me, as well as every last thing a young adult goes through in terms of relationships, work, and the stress of not knowing yourself enough to stand alone.

In 2009, I had some skills in Photoshop from an internship that lasted a few years, and decided after failing so many times in so many other medias, including, metal, casting, ceramics, fiberglass, and even lithographing, it was time to try my hand in altering it in Photoshop. I colored it as you can see below, and while it isn’t my favorite, I wanted to show the success of the first piece and the aged failure of the second. At the time I liked it because it came closer than the other medias, but now I can see the flaws and know that it will be redone again. I did take some artistic licensing to recreate the torn and opened wing as this enraged demonic figure has been in battle multiple times, but I don’t know if that was a great decision back then or now.

Please know that these works do exclusively belong to me and have been copyrighted. If you are interested in using them for something please contact me first and I will work with you.

Thanks!