SOLO EXHIBITION “THESE FIVE KINGS” ON VIEW AT SHEPARD FAIREY’S SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS GALLERY

JUNE – JULY, 2023

Scroll to read about each of the artwork series featured in the show!

I lifted the show’s title THESE FIVE KINGS from a line in a poem called The Hand That Signed the Paper by Dylan Thomas; The meaning of which is very much in line with my Mightier Than series which plays a large role in this exhibition. The poem demonstrates the power of words. 

 We usually think of the power of words as a positive thing, how it beats the power of violence, but this poem keenly illustrates the dangerous side of that power. How the written word can be a weapon of mass destruction, more devastating than other WMDs.

I also chose These Five Kings as a title because of the arrival of new A.I. language models. In past decades, science fiction envisioned a future where robots did manual labor, building things, preparing and fetching our food, seeing to our needs and whims. leaving us to do the higher cognitive tasks, thinking, engineering, science, philosophy, and art. As it turns out, this prediction was exactly incorrect. 

The very first matters to be mastered by robots (at least enough to fool us) are the higher cognitive functions and as the technologies sharpen over the next few years, the only advantage that we will have over them is our empathy and dexterity.

The Five Kings on our hands and our ability to do manual labor are, for now, our only competitive advantage. Eventually robots will have better hands than us too.

This is not meant to be a bleak title however – Our hands are only made more precious and valuable with this strange turn of history…What we make with our hands – and who we share it with becomes more beautiful and more profound.

BIRD POT CREATURES

The Bird Pot Sculptures are inspired in part by my own four backyard ducks!

The original Bird Pot Creature was a painting inspired by the art of Heironymus Bosch. Not a specific painting of his – I was just studying his art at that time and I loved the way he built weird little creatures by combining people, mammals, instincts, birds, and everyday objects. His paintings are endlessly fascinating, so many little scenes and interactions between the off characters. That original Bird Pot first showed at Subliminal Projects Gallery in 2013. Since then, I’ve drawn painted hundreds of bird pots. The Bird Pot Sculptures then made there debut in 2019 at Hashimoto Contemporary.

More than any other art series I’ve created, these sculptures are truly a team effort!

Their components include a clay pot thrown and fired, a clay head, steel gun, and steel legs.

The clay heads were sculpted by me with the help of assistant Attie Schuler.

Each unique clay pot was thrown by our friend and ceramicist Sam Davick.

Special thanks to Serei Reifman who built a huge gas kiln in her backyard and helped us fill and fire the pots!

The guns are three plated, designed and modeled for laser cutting by Dan Scriener. Typewriter parts are disassembled, reassembled, and welded on by me. Each gun is specially fitted to each bird pot, attached using gravity only, and can be displayed with or without the gun.

The steep legs and feet were modeled  by Dan Schreiner. Welded and wrapped by myself, Jesse Jarldane, and Clemente Guzman.

PRINT BASED ORIGINALS

Or, PBO’s as we call them at the studio, are unique, one of a kind works made entirely from my own prints and posters.

I love so many kinds of art. I love the diversity of experiences that can be had from looking at art. Some experiences are simple, some complex, some sophisticated, some crude; representative, narrative, abstract, reflexive…PBO’s are a way of combining these experiences – to combine them to see what happens inside us.

For many years, I’ve been creating these. I tore, combined, and reorganized bits of prints to create new original pieces. All of the bits of art in these pieces were created by me and each one is different from all the others.

They are inspired by the art of Mimo Rotella, Jacque Villegle, Robert Rauschenberg, and of course, Shepard Fairey.

MIGHTIER THAN GUNS & GUNSHOP 

These guns are made from everyday implements of written language. Pieces include typewriter, stapler, and rubber stamp parts. These implements are disassembled, and reassembled using welds and bolts.

The first typewriter gun sculpture was created in 2005. Originally, they were small parts of larger installations. I always have a big sculptural element in all my shows. Something large enough and immersive that puts the viewer inside the art. Sometimes it’s a human sized figure or a few figures riding life size horses. And, originally these guns made of typewriters were things that the various sculptures would be holding.

Later, I realized that they were a full idea in and of themselves. Something worth isolating and letting sit alone on a wall. I made two of them for the Primitive Futures exhibition at Subliminal Projects in 2015.

ORIGINAL PAINTINGS

Much of my art is made with a flat 2 dimensional quality, without gradation and blending. I often use this method of working, because I’m creating pieces for serigraph or other printmaking processes.

However, I also love the flexible and versatile nature of painting! In a certain way, painting is easier than drawing because it offers so many more tools to manipulate. It holds the possibility for so much variety in texture, shadow, value, contour, form, and color. Having all of these variables creates the need for more control but allows for a much wider range in visual vocabulary and allows for more more articulation.

The paintings in this show are inspired by Hieronymus Bosch, the Flemish primitives, Bruegel the Elder, and European Noble Portraits.

ORIGINAL COMPOUND INTERESTS DRAWINGS

I have 3 wonderful employees that come to my studio and we work hard every day. We all take lunch together and often go on short walks after we eat. We talk about all kinds of things that are of interest to us. This is often the inspiration that goes into these little drawings. Conversations about what’s happening in our lives, things we’ve read about, current events, and so on. The Compound Interests Series is just me pursuing whatever little idea pops in my head and I make little scenes with Bird Pot creatures contemplating aspects of those little ideas.

When I bought the house that I now live and work in (nicknamed the Commerce City Art Compound!). The guy who sold it to me had 5 ducks and a goose living in the back yard that he planned to kill unless I wanted them. I’d never had any interest in owning birds but it didn’t feel right, condemning them to death, so they stayed. Since then I’ve fallen in love with them. They are 100% funny and beautiful!

I get a little shot of joy everyday when I’m taking care of them. The Bird Pot creatures and Compound Interests drawings are a little bit inspired by them. Like us, they are leading simple little lives with their own politics, complexities, difficulties, and limitations and they are surrounded by a huge complicated world that they have no hope of truly understanding. Just like us!

Free Commemorative Ballot 2020 Prints

This year, I am giving away small hand-printed pieces of art to remember this wild voting season. Now is a perfect moment of madness to punctuate the madness of 2020. These prints serve as a souvenir for this historic election, though I’m sure none of us will need reminding. Still, I hope it will be something people are interested in keeping to look back on this challenging year and hopefully be comforted.

The original inspiration for the series came from the Memento Mori and Danse Macabre art of the middle ages and renaissance, specifically that of the German printmakers Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein. During and after the Black Plague, many artists depicted people of all economic and social stripes being pursued and harassed by skeletons. These pieces included nobles, peasants, kings, farmers, prostitutes, popes and princesses all being clawed at and led around by death. Memento Mori (remember death) and Danse Macabre (dance of death) was a reminder of the inevitability of our own demise, the equality of death and an injunction to celebrate our precious lives.

People have compared Coronavirus to a modern-day plague as hyperbole, which in some ways is obviously extreme. But it is also a fitting analogy, as there are now over 1 million deaths globally from COVID. And like those old depictions, it’s important to remember that nobody is bulletproof—not blue-collar workers, not celebrities, not homeless people, not the US president. 

As I started to draw these, the idea evolved. I included European dragons along with the skeleton imagery to represent danger in general. The only deviation from this theme of danger or death in the series is the depiction of St. Christopher crossing the river. Instead of a skeleton or a dragon, he is accompanied by baby Jesus (I love the story of Saint Christopher). Like so many of us, each character is optimistic, on their way to deliver their 2020 ballots.

The first election I voted in was between Gore and Bush. At the time, people—especially older people who were the age that I am now—we’re saying, “This is the most important election of your lifetime.” I remember thinking to myself that there was no way that was true; Things are only going to get more intense and more crazy. This idea that people more dangerous than Bush weren’t going to come along seemed absurd. I didn’t believe it then, but ironically, I find myself believing it now. Even in this case, the comment may be a bit alarmist, but I do suspect that there is some truth to it. 

A worse leader than the one we have now can certainly appear down the road. But because of the severity and urgency of this moment—there is a confluence of problems colliding—people really do need to act now. 

To keep postponing is suicidal. Which brings us back to the prints. Death and danger are always stalking us, they have been for millennia, but we are in control to a large degree. That danger wants to devour us, and it is encouraged to advance or retreat depending on how we act. 

My advice for the coming months is to psychologically be ready for something worse than you can imagine, but also to remain optimistic and engaged. Optimism is not passive. It is active and it helps us change our course. I love you with my whole heart!

Tag me in any post on Instagram related to voting and getting out the vote and I will give you a free print from this series. Here’s how it works: 

1. Create any post related to the election (i.e. an opinion about the ballot or your “I voted” selfie).
2. Tag me on Instagram, @raviamarzupa, on the image and in the caption and let others know about the giveaway.
3. I will DM you a discount code.
4. Go to my store to select what print you want and click Purchase. 
5. After you enter the code you will be responsible for the $1 shipping fee.
6. Share this with as many of your friends as you can. 

We will ship the prints within two weeks after the election. 

Feel free to buy any of the additional prints for $10 each. 

Thank you all for participating! 

Albrecht Dürer, Death and the Landsknecht

This has been a rough several years for everyone, all over the world. And although there are clear signs that good things are starting to move, it will likely become more difficult before it gets easier.

I wanted to make a piece that acknowledged that difficulty without being cynical or bleak. Something with beauty and optimism. The Kinnara is a mythical creature found in much of Asia. Details vary depending on the region but in Southeast Asia, they are part-bird and part-human. They act as protectors, watching over the well-being of humans during times of hardship or danger.

For the text, I chose the poem “When all my Five and Country Senses See” by Dylan Thomas. Like most of his poems, the meaning is not very straightforward on first reading but it leaves one with an uneasiness and sadness. It describes sadness and frustration and a falling away of love and optimism, but it does so with elegance. It asks as the psychological environment for Kinnara to reside in.

The style of this piece is inspired by Sak Yant tattoo art from Thailand and Cambodia, which is text-heavy and dense which I tend to be drawn to. The tradition of this type of tattoo is deeply connected to religious processes and the tattoos themselves act as prayers and invocations.

This piece is 18″ x 24″ and is available in yellow for $65 or gold variants for $150 through 1xRun as part of their 12 Days of Printsmas holiday release series. Other artists featured include Bill Barminski, Brandon Boyd, Cope2, Denial, Jeff Gillette, Luke Chueh, Maser, Mike Giant, Ron English, Sage Vaughn, and Wayne White.

INTERPRETATION

There are two crucial things to remember when analyzing this story. 

First is that there are only two characters (or parties) in this whole drama. Raktabija and Shiva are one character, while Kali, Durga and the other goddesses are the other. 

Secondly, this is not necessarily a battle between the male and female genders—although it can be, and often is. Or, more importantly, men and women are constantly playing out the roles of both characters and it is foolish to apply this metaphor in a way that assigns the Kali role to the woman and the Shiva role to the man. Sometimes this drama can play out between two groups of men. Depending on the circumstances, we all find ourselves as each character at different times.

In the beginning of the story, the two characters are fighting and the battlefield remains mostly within the bounds of a reasonable, problem-addressing conflict. In the case of a fight between spouses, for example, the “weapons” are logic, demands for fairness, equity and so on. Durga, in this case, represents a commitment to fairness and balanced justice, but her opponent is cheating. He uses very sophisticated tools of logic and rhetoric to always win rather than recognizing the value and the truth in her argument. He refuses to do the important yielding that comes from self reflective honesty. Even though he knows there is validity to her arguments, he continues to resist and battle. When we don’t relent in these cases, we run the risk of escalating the fight into levels that can get out of control. The American poet Saul Williams was describing a particularly sinister version of this when he said, “Every argument you make, I turn into ammunition against you.”

This is the meaning of the blood drops becoming duplicates of Raktabija. All of Durga’s successful, valid arguments only strengthen him because his rhetorical equipment is advanced enough to always form a logical argument to defeat her… even if he is wrong. When Durga finally realizes what he is doing, she becomes enraged the way all of us do when we are in this situation. She transforms into a more fierce version of herself, which is in no way bound by the rules of logic or fairness or even morality for that matter. Hers is the force of pure destruction which is summoned when a situation seems like it cannot be repaired through reasonable means. Advanced rhetorical tools are no match for this type of force and Kali instantly disarms and incapacitates him with no difficulty. 

This disarming and disrupting effect is the profound value of Kali’s destructiveness, and sometimes it is necessary, but it is at this point that new, more serious problems can arise. Kali is now stomping around the world causing more damage than the initial problem did because this enraged mental state is hard to return from. More importantly, it is in this mental state that we craft and launch some of our cruelest missiles aimed directly at the heart of the people we love. Sometimes these missiles do irreparable damage to those hearts.

Shiva’s entrance into the narrative marks the moment when Raktabija is destroyed and what is left of that character is a truer self. Think of the time when you pushed someone you love too far and you realized when you saw the wounded rage in their face. If you were lucky or particularly skilled, you summoned a more clear thinking version of yourself, which actively made an effort to de-escalate. 

Shiva knows his responsibility here is to calm and comfort Kali and help her to return. The only way to do that is to allow himself to be defeated by her. And just as she is not bound by any rules of logic, fairness or morality, Shiva is also free of these constraints and can yield to her whether she is right or not. He does this because he recognizes that the balance of the relationship depends on it. The continued existence of the world depends on it.

It’s important to remember that Shiva is the most powerful being in the universe. Kali is his only match because she is the same force. Shiva and Kali are, in a certain sense, the same character (the destroyer) and represent the same set of phenomena. Many paintings and sculptures depict them as joined into the form of one single person (usually with a female form on one side of the body and a male form on the other). If this process is done correctly, it results in a deeper merging of two people or two groups. 

Marvelous partners, friends.