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Manatee Epic (for Andy Casali) inks on bristol / 2011 |
The manatee was a source of inside humor between Andy and myself. There were a few stories based on manatee tattoos and we'd often joke about coming up with the most ridiculous ideas for such a tattoo that we could think of. The imagery along the left side of the work begins with the great mother of creation at the bottom with a Dali-esque door coming from her (which is an element of the surrealist artist's work we both admired and Andy had tattooed a few times.) The figure standing on the books in "ascension" is Casali himself with the mismatched socks only he could pull off. Andy obsessively included the number 4 in his work, the reason behind it on the manatee's chest. All of these things will always make me think of my friend and fellow artist. A common theme we shared was the idea of the light bulb in our work- rendering the inspired moment. This piece will join my series of light bulb and lampshade-headed figures entitled Random Acts of Vibrance which I'm currently working on.
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Two of my tattoos from Andy (Left: Hurdy Gurdy Man holding my brushes in place / 2006) (Right: Buddha in a Flying Light Bulb / 2008) And here is the process video of The Manatee Epic... |
UPDATE 01/15/2012
Today is the one year anniversary of Andy's passing and I was compelled to translate an image I've had bouncing around in my head for the past several months. Here is my portrait of Andy Casali III In Memoriam...
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Inks on Bristol / 2012 |
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