Painting the impulse

Abstract

My primary focus in my paintings is the male figure. These paintings have evolved in a non linear progression. I went from representational to partly abstract and back to representational infused with sequential art. During this development, I decided to paint my figures to resemble comic book characters of my own creation and paint them to represent emotional qualities of spontaneity and dualities of my psyche. I am devoted to painting the male figure. The male nude has greater intensity in muscle definition and skeletal structure that creates dynamic anatomical imagery. This is why I draw and paint the male nude more willingly than the female figure. I decided to integrate my admiration and study of Japanese comic books (called ‘manga’) in my paintings because this medium of Japanese popular culture is something that continuously fascinates me. Since I harbor a desire to become a comic book artist, it became inevitable to instill physical features of sequential art upon my figures. The facial structure is especially recognizable to those familiar with the average male protagonist seen in Japanese pop culture. Large eyes and sharp simple lines of the face and body are what construct a prototypical manga male figure. It is this format of the ideal I apply to my own comic book characters.