Working On Things, Forever Happy With Myself

Pull Me Out - May 2017

Was alternating between calling this one Bloodlines (b/c there was supposed to be lines but I figured they'd be extra) and So Indiscreet (from Mother Mother's Reaper Man) but I opted for an Oh Land lyric instead. Watercolor, gouache (standard and acrylic,) ink, dish soap and salt washes. About 10x16.

RESOURCES ON WAYS TO HELP THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT

includes educational materials on black history, structural racism, effective allyship, and ways to donate without any money

the atrocities and injustices black americans have faced for centuries by the very nation their ancestors built has gone on for far too long. it has been proven time and time again america is indifferent to the flagrant abuse and murder of african-americans by the system society told us growing up is meant to protect the people. its abundantly clear that is a lie.

as i am writing this on june 6th 2020, 12 days after the death of george floyd, all 50 states and over 580 american cities have held protests against racism and police brutality. the whole country is crying out towards their injustice and america is long overdue for deep societal change. but that is not all.

in addition to the u.s. 19 other countries so far have joined and held protests against the systemic racism and police brutality perpetuated by their own governments. from argentina to australia, canada to brazil, mexico to japan, this list goes on. this is NOT an american only issue. police brutality is worldwide. globalized colorism and racism is prevalent and real. to quote andré 3000, “across cultures darker people suffer the most, why?”

i am speaking as an asian-american. and im also saying this as a nonblack person. george floyd was murdered directly by derek chauvin but 3 other officers aided in his murder, including an asian-american man named tou thao. he stood by doing nothing to help while a white man murdered a black person. a horrific representation of the culmination of antiblackness in asian-american communities. its not just white people. we are complicit to such racism as well. we must start with ourselves. to terminate structural racism we must eradicate it at the root so it may never reach such a scale ever again. in america, and many other countries, every nonblack person is complicit in the oppression of black people. we must work to undo the anti-blackness ingrained in us and our own people. we have to hold them accountable for anti-black racism before it grows and one our own is complicit to another racist murder of a black person. no matter how much it makes us uncomfortable and no matter who you might upset.

we cannot look away. we must immediately fight for change. a few convictions will not be enough. “reforming” the police will not be enough. a few new laws will not be enough. not until every black person brutalized and murdered by the hands of police get justice, and not until we ensure that this will never ever happen again. this problem is deep, and we all must work intra and interpersonally to solve it. and if you’re not speaking out, if you’re choosing to be quiet, you are part of the problem.

when we look at history often we’re appalled and shake our heads at the atrocities committed by society. why did people do that? why did people allow that? why did it go on for so long? it’s because people stayed silent and didn’t do anything to stop it. in oppression, there is no neutrality. if you stand by and say you don’t pick a side you are picking the side of the oppressor, because you’re allowing oppression to happen. in the era of slavery, would you say you would have advocated for abolition? or would you have turned a blind eye and let it go on? now look at the reality of our world today and ask yourself what side of history you’re going to be on, right here, right now. because this is a global movement. and history is in the making.

in the words of my friend @corpsentry: the world is at its tipping point. its up to us which way it falls

Kyrie (eleison) 2020, 10x20-ish mixed media on masonite Media, in no specific order: Watercolor, acrylic, acryla gouache, gold and silver leaf, gold mica flake, lace

Done for @capri-bigbang2k19 

According to the date on my phone, I finished the sketch in late August. I finished not too long ago, making this my first painting of 2020. How fitting, given this piece includes a lot of firsts: mounting a piece on masonite with matte medium as an adhesive; using squeeze bottles and blunt needles to do fine lining/piping (I need to go thinner,) and making shell gold for the purpose of being liquid gold paint (a technique adapted from how Russian icon painters make shell gold, which is both time-consuming and kind of fun.) I also used matte medium as more adhesive for the lacing after looking into how collage and assemblage artists make their pieces stick without fear of glue breaking or yellowing.

I'd visit this intermittently along with working on bees for my local town - it became a form of therapy in which I was allowed to “get real fucking weird,” as some professionals say.

The dried grass, camellias, roses, sweet peas and baby's breath are a reference to my writing contribution to the Captive Prince Big Bang, which needs to be worked on oops, but I got until Saturday.

Title is from the Christian liturgy, but also a reference to my album of 2019: Lingua Ignota’s Caligula, specifically If the Poison Won’t Take You... (TW: loud music, references to domestic abuse.)

Commission for a friend of mine, herself and Beatrice from the Umineko series. Had fun with the gold paste and doing abstract shojo-roses~.

Hand practices from now until the other day

Because @dragonhotcoffee asked so nicely; have sweater vest Laurent (trying to hide he is impressed by Akielon beef.)

#jupiter is done #wktd #weknowthedevil #drawlloween "please look at me / don't touch me"

Just guys being pals or however the kids say it (naw they've been dating for like five years)

Vitaly, whose reference is Mads Mikkelsen #oc #doodle

Art show had a great turn out :D thank y'all for coming!