Illustration Friday: The Tough on Crime Skeleton

"Said the Tough on Crime Skeleton - Tear Gas the Mob"

"Brigade" is an unusually macabre theme coming from Illustration Friday this week.  Coincidentally, these past few weeks have seen brigades of armed Police in riot gear swooping down the streets of our nation in response to the first ever GLOBAL Protest in the Occupy Movement.


These largely peaceful protests are scaring the Upper Class and Big Business's hand in our Government because they are reaching beyond the control of the main stream voice in Big Brother.  Despite little press coverage or acknowledgement in its first month, the movement became a world-wide phenomenon with Occupy groups springing up in over 80 countries across the planet.  Of course, the spin doctors are at work and justifying the unconstitutional removal of these protesters across the country the past few weeks as our Government shows its strong arm by beating, tear gassing, pepper spraying and arresting over 1,000 citizens here in the US, Canada, Australia and Europe. Occupy is exposing the corruption of our Government by Wall Street.  Occupy is exposing the Police State you really live in.  Occupy is here to stay and keep pulling back the curtain and lifting the veil and nudging open your third eye.

My featured illustration this week is from my Ballad of the Skeletons series inspired by Allen Ginsberg's poem of the same name.  I have shared a few of these works through Illustration Friday and you can Click HERE to see a stream of ALL of my entries from this year!

Click HERE for the Official Allen Ginsberg Website!

Click HERE for my FREE Occupy Wall Street Posters I designed for the Movement!

Click HERE for the Official Occupy Wall Street Website!

Illustration Friday: The Military Skeleton

The Military Skeleton / inks on paper / 2007

Earlier this year, I gave you a preview of a series of illustrations I have put on indefinite hiatus for a number of reasons- The Ballad of the Skeletons, based on the poem by Allen Ginsberg.  At some point, I'll revisit these works and illustrate all 80+ skeletons of this massive project.  Today,  I felt compelled to share another one with you which immediately came to mind for Illustration Friday.  The theme of this week's artistic escapade is "Launch."

"Said the Military Skeleton,

Buy Star Bombs."

-Allen Ginsberg, Ballad of the Skeletons

We live in a country which launches a military offensive at a bare minimum of once per Presidential administration. We always have to have an enemy- a bad guy for the public to demonize, hate and call to be hunted down like a dog to justify the majority of our military operations.  Why do we need this constant state of fear of impending attacks?  To keep us in line with the program of being proud of war.  We need it to be necessary and justified because our country profits from war.  Companies have made out like bandits since WWI from manufacturing arms, ammunition, uniforms, nonperishable foods and a whole variety of other toys, gadgets and necessities of war.  Capitalism seeks to profit from every industry, hence the term, "war profiteering."  Big Business wants us at war and needs us at war, which is why we're ALWAYS at war.   I could go on all day long on this subject but a more recent example of my grievance with our military industrial complex is thoroughly covered the documentary, Iraq for Sale, which I've posted for you here today...

"Let us call a truce to terror. Let us invoke the blessings of peace. And as we build an international capacity to keep peace, let us join in dismantling the national capacity to wage war."

- John F. Kennedy, September 25, 1961

[Click HERE for a stream of all of my Illustration Friday entries!]

Illustration Friday: The Downsized Skeleton

inks on paper / 2007

Here is my first entry for a neat site I just got turned on to called Illustration Friday.  Every week they present a different theme for artists to post work around.  My entry for this week's theme, "Winter," is from a series which I've toyed around with the past couple of years called Ballad of the Skeletons.  These are based on the poem of the same name by Allen Ginsberg.  I can't give him enough love this week after watching Howl (see my review from earlier this week.) Every skeleton in the poem has a line of dialog...

Said the downsized skeleton,

Robot's got my job.  

For the meantime I've put this series on the back-burner since I got tangled up in some other projects.  I want to make much more intricate works with the remaining skeletons I have to illustrate. The themes of this poem stand the test of time and are all still relevant today.  I drew this is 2007 but pulling it back up for this online exhibit, it struck me how much more the image hits home after the financial problems we've all had this year.  Folks are falling on hard times not only because of technology but now from outsourcing work to foreign countries.  The guy at the top makes more as the poor schmucks at the bottom lose their jobs to employees who don't require as much pay or benefits.  The American worker is left out in the cold with little notice and/or severance.

(Click here to see all my Illustration Friday weekly entries)