Thursday, December 9, 2010

Gnostic Surrealism



This image is a mixture of science fiction and Gnostic Christian symbolism. The crude cross with the ragged red banner is an image of Christ dead and resurrected. The dragon/snake on the right is the bearer of both true knowledge and evil. And the tentacled floating robot on the left is there because I wanted to practice rendering metallic surfaces and biomorphic shapes in Photoshop. In fact this whole picture only exists because I need to practice painting things "realistically" or artistically in Photoshop. The Gnostic symbolism came later because that's what my odd little mind is filled with. I don't yet feel up to painting human babe-flesh, let alone faces. Maybe God needs more tentacled floating robots. Gnosticism, which could be described as "weird off-brand Christianity," was one of the sources of the modern Surrealist movement, so I might as well go there.

PhotoGnosis, 10" x 7", 3000 x 2100 pixels, not a speedpaint. Two nights in the darkness before the Solstice, December 8-9, 2010. Klikonthepik for a somewhat larger view.

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