Much as I enjoyed re-visiting the Quantum Tarot, it’s also been great to get back to some other projects now the Tarot deck’s been finished. I’ve begun working on a new series of digital images which are a little difficult to describe. They all show some or other aspect of what it is to be male, be it on an emotional, physical or spiritual level.
Needless to say, they’re not universal. They come from the perspective of this particular gay male so they can only reflect my particular experience. I’ve posted some samples on my web site’s gallery.
In the meantime, I’ve also gone back to my first love in terms of medium. I’ve begun a series of portraits in pencil on board. Having not worked like this since 2003, I’d forgotten just how enjoyable it can be. I’d also forgotten that this media probably suits me more than any other.
The first picture to be completed is a portrait of the young Rudolf Nureyev. I’m interested in the whole concept of the ‘Sacred Monster’ - Nureyev certainly fitted into this category; the great artists whose achievements inflated their personalities, egos and temperaments to almost super human proportions. Loved by millions but strangely isolated, these people take on almost mythic status after they die, sometimes even in their own lifetime.
I want this to be the first of a series of ‘Sacred Monsters’. By concentrating on close ups of their faces alone, I hope I can strip away a few masks and attempt to reveal something of the person behind the legend. A face is a face after all and Nureyev’s face was just as human as the person you’ve just passed in the street. The legend means we just forgot the mundane truth.
Chris.
Chris Butler. Artist and Illustrator.
www.butlerart.co.uk
Needless to say, they’re not universal. They come from the perspective of this particular gay male so they can only reflect my particular experience. I’ve posted some samples on my web site’s gallery.
In the meantime, I’ve also gone back to my first love in terms of medium. I’ve begun a series of portraits in pencil on board. Having not worked like this since 2003, I’d forgotten just how enjoyable it can be. I’d also forgotten that this media probably suits me more than any other.
The first picture to be completed is a portrait of the young Rudolf Nureyev. I’m interested in the whole concept of the ‘Sacred Monster’ - Nureyev certainly fitted into this category; the great artists whose achievements inflated their personalities, egos and temperaments to almost super human proportions. Loved by millions but strangely isolated, these people take on almost mythic status after they die, sometimes even in their own lifetime.
I want this to be the first of a series of ‘Sacred Monsters’. By concentrating on close ups of their faces alone, I hope I can strip away a few masks and attempt to reveal something of the person behind the legend. A face is a face after all and Nureyev’s face was just as human as the person you’ve just passed in the street. The legend means we just forgot the mundane truth.
Chris.
Chris Butler. Artist and Illustrator.
www.butlerart.co.uk
