WORK
CURRENT EXHIBITION:
ASCENSION
THE STRANGE PEAR SOLO SHOW, OCT 2024
Its my honor and privilege to be asked to do a solo exhibition at The Strange Pear Gallery's 25th Show. My deepest thanks to all the artists who've submitted in past shows and who decide to do so in future shows. A special thank you to Pear himself, for creating such a wonderfully inclusive space of creation and inspiration. Thank you for believing in my work and being such a strong supporter of getting my work out there.
Ascension is what I'm dubbing the more recent portion of the work in the solo show both in due part to the titled piece "Ascension" being a good representation of my latest work on top of what I see as a shift in my overall aesthetic. There still is the usual characteristics of my work: vibrant color, dramatic lighting, and surreal imagery but more explosive and emissive than previously from my work.
Its of my opinion that the newer works reflect more of a focus on the external and interactions with the other, more so than the mostly introspective pieces I've made in the past. Obviously I still believe most of my work can be read as a self-contemplation, but I'd like to think the viewer's input and their interpretation is being made some more room for if albeit gradually so.
REFLECTION
THE STRANGE PEAR SOLO SHOW, OCT 2024
Alchemy is a now obsolete digital ideazation tool. There are severe limitations placed on its structure in order to focus strictly on quick iteration and experimentation. Some of these limitations include only two-three layers, no true save function besides exporting, and it being completely vector-based. My primary experience with digital art is raster-based, muti-layered, and overly detail-oriented, so obviously I found Alchemy incredibly refreshing and immediately went about finding a way to end up making finished work in it.
Alchemy was a great tool to exercise my composition skills, color theory skills, and my level of grace when it comes to losing work due to various technical issues(it happened a bit). The pieces made in Alchemy still excite me so I will be making an extended collection of all my Alchemy works at a later date but for now here are some examples that bring out the most of the program.
Also you might notice my old signature MZ which fun-fact stands for Mind of Zeitgeist. (An attempt at a fun visual play at my name).
THE SCENIC ROUTE
THE STRANGE PEAR SOLO SHOW, OCT 2024
These selected works are all landscapes with different intentions and attitudes towards the inclusion of figures. Despite how much I enjoy the vibrancy and freedom of my usual work I still want to push away from purely expressive work and eventually find my way into more technical design for film and games.
Regardless of that context, these landscapes are very much a means to an end for the emotional communication I'm pushing for rather than any sort of highly realized depiction.
PAST EXHIBITIONS
Garden of Earthly Delight
TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW OF THE STRANGE PEAR GALLERY, SEPT 2024
Its been really pleasant experience submitting to The Strange Pear and for the anniversary show I wanted to give a brief but strong showing of the two contrasting sides of my work, aesthetic-wise. The two reflective pieces display both my appreciation of clean lines, primary colors, and iconic imagery. The later two asymmetrical pieces emphasize my enjoyment of the abstract, the ephemeral, and the sublime. In combination, this collection provides a succinct showing of what influences me and what sorts of work flows from my process.
DIVINE COLORS+HIDDEN REALMS
THE STRANGE PEAR GALLERY SHOW TWENTY-TWO AND TWENTY-THREE, JUL 2024-AUG 2024
In order, this section includes work from two shows submitted to the twenty second and twenty third shows of The Strange Pear Gallery of Fine Art.
The Strange Pear is fine art gallery that exists within the world of VRChat, a virtual reality social networking application with a plethora of content and a variety of vibrant creator communities. The very first piece I submitted to The Strange Pear Gallery of Fine Art and it's twenty-second show, Hidden Realms, was "Spirit Guide/Pretty Lies". It is a piece I hold dearly in my heart as an ode to nostalgia, to psychedelia, and to esotericism.
The experience I had presenting there and the work's reception was such a wonderfully warm introduction into a now continuing streak of submissions to The Strange Pear Gallery. With no hyperbole, it was personally a transformative experience seeing the digital work that I had previously only seen on smaller screens being scaled up to the life-size presence of an actual gallery space in virtual reality.
The excitement from this experience has reengaged my interest in showing my art to the world and therefore led into my intent with the works I submitted to following show, Divine Colors. The work from this show highlight my dedication to high levels of detail, nuanced use of visual flow, and dramatic visual compositions. On display is some of my most visually bombastic pieces which hopefully leave the viewer with something new to notice with each viewing.
