Semantic Antics

It's been quite a voyage of discovery for me these last few years; artistically, philosophically and emotionally. When I first began toying with the the symbolic presence of words I didn't have a clear realization of where it would take me. My first thoughts were, "Wow, this is interesting! ..I wonder what would happen if I added this.. or tweaked that?" With further experiments, an unfolding array possibilities crept into my mind.

Through the transforming of type into multilayered mandalas and finding inspiration in the simple step of mirroring, these linguistic characters began to emerge. During my time at Pleasure and Pain Ink I was fortunate to also be taught the elements of script lettering. With the added flair of filigree these 'Word Players' started to take shape. Whereas my initial lettering was slightly block like with an accented curvature, this recent font adjustment suggests a more delicate and organic look. Depending on the word, some work better as faces, others as bodies and combining words allows for all sorts of word play (:

Many more in the works!

^ Peace, Harmony, Balance ^

Warrior Artist Shaman

A play on words which can be interpreted as a face, three faces or a complete figure. The top portion exhibits the mind of a Warrior, propelled into action with a cunning resolve and sense of honor.

Directly below are the eyes and heart of an Artist, patiently perceiving patterns and displaying circulated inspiration into a chosen artistic medium.

At the bottom rests the mouth and feet of a Shaman. A combination of Warrior and Artist, the Shaman expresses messages of wisdom and healing and traverses a path which requires integrity and courage. The Shaman is a master of performance and a dedicated guide.

:::A totem for leadership.

Mask

Designed from the word MASK. To read, tilt your head to the right {:

Just Laugh More

A phrase from a recorded lecture at Burning Man 2003 by Alex, Allyson and Zena Grey called Art, Love, Family and Psychedelics that I felt inspired by. Allyson offered advice in regards to helping maintain healthy relationships and how one can become a better parent, partner, artist and person. The advice was to "laugh more"

The treatment here is of the mirrored initials J.L.M.

Syntaxia

A continuation of my Body Language series. Redesigned the head with more humanlike features.

Sympathy For Our Devils

Excited to announce a spot in a group show at the Steam Whistle Brewery on July 6th 7-11pm to July 31.

Featuring fellow artists Erick Castaneda, Jaime Capell, Paolo Diaque, Jordan McKie, Daniel Martins and Tomas Zatrak in a theme about masks.

A taste:::

Used to assist in the telling of myth, masks have maintained a long preserved and widespread tradition throughout the history of Mankind. As such, they are closely entwined with language. The stories spoken verbally or enacted physically were all the more engaging with a mask to bring an added sense of mystery and symbolic presence. They are excellent aides in the personification of elemental forces and often provide a face for the faceless.

To wear a mask is to alter the perceptual exchange that takes place between the wearer and the audience. With tribal ceremony involving masked players there is great opportunity for expressive participation and community bonding.

With these aspects in mind, the majority of the 'masks' to be presented have been formed from mirrored word arrangements.

Head tilting may be required ^v^

^Sympathy For Our Devils^ ^Light, Shadow, Vision^

Body Language

This is a project I've been been working on for the last eleven months or so. It's constantly evolving, with no end in sight. I've displayed it in various venues and have received some great feedback. Now I think it's finally ready for an online presentation.

Essentially it’s a collection of positively charged words arranged in the form of a female figure, ultimately designed to be a reflection of the Divine Feminine.

To give credit where credit is due, I’d like to note that the pose I used was greatly inspired by the Sacred Mirrors series by Alex Grey.

http://www.cosm.org/

It's important that I also delve a little bit into the background of my process to give this project some context. It began when researching the power of sigils and repeated affirmations. For those who aren’t familiar with the term sigil, it’s a ‘magical’ device which is frequently used in occult rituals, often times worn as a talisman or placed in and around an alter or shrine. In effect, it’s a symbol containing a message of one’s conscious desires and aspirations, directed at the subconscious mind.

Since the subconscious absorbs and interprets surroundings through the analysis and recognition of symbolic shapes and patterns, a sigil is meant to be put up somewhere you will see it on a regular basis like a mirror or fridge door. The purpose is that through repeated exposure to this intentionally simplified symbol one can more readily manifest their desires. However, there's a catch... for a sigil to be most effective it must be forgotten. To put it another way, first specify the desire and charge it with intent, then let it go. This can be done by designing numerous sigils, putting them away somewhere for a couple weeks (out of sight, out of mind) and then bring them back out once their individual meanings have escaped your conscious mind. Some sigil makers even destroy them in order to fully let go and allow the 'magic' to run its course. Detachment is crucial.

For a more in depth summary of sigils and sigil construction check this out...

http://home.comcast.net/~max555/book/Sigils.html

So after playing around with sigils for a little while I decided to take one word and manipulate it into a pattern. That word was PEACE. While drawing it in my sketchbook I noticed that from a certain angle the words formed what looked like eyes. In continuing with this thread the natural development was to turn it into a face and then incorporate a variety of words into a full body.

With that to springboard from I took to the task of creating a prototype with 66 words.

The most current version contains 161.

For a closer look to see the words I've used, here are some details of the head, hands, torso and legs.

I've also created a color version and have included the seven chakra system. Printed an earlier version at nearly life size (6' x 4') on a vinyl sheet and it looks absolutely stunning. I'm hoping to print it to fit the side of a building someday...

Inverted version

For easy reference, here's a list of the words I'ved used so far.