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ShawnCoss — Blinded By My Purity
Published: 2009-08-12 14:28:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 7138; Favourites: 153; Downloads: 74
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Description
Finally able to finish the 2nd piece in my "Halos & Tragedies" set.Total time of 3 days, 4 hours each, on a shit piece of cabinet door. All acrylic, no ink surprisingly.
Where to begin on the backstory of this one....
Growing up I, like many was raised on christian values, and forced into church every sunday and sometimes wednesday evenings. It caused a lot of anger in me because I was forced into a belief system that I didn't really understand, and I think that had to do alot with my behavior in my high school days. Of course today I have my beliefs and I hold onto them strongly, whether I'm wrong or not I'll find out once I die.
But it seems a lot of those who become zealots to an organized religion tend to lose sight of humanity and how special it is. They try to suppress feelings, and desires because they believe it is against their God's bidding. They are willing to sacrifice so much for something that may not exist, in fear that if they do not, that they will not be welcomed when the time comes. They try so hard to wear their halo's perfect, and pure, not realizing that it is blinding them from seeing life for what it is, at this moment....beautiful
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Comments: 42
Aye. Especially among me and my fellow Christians, such zealotry divides us. Biggest example I can think of is about sex. It's not something that many want to get into depth on, either by religious or secular viewpoints.
I ask why does the Lord wish us to be chaste, and avoid lustful thoughts. Most pastors and ministers will simply say it is to remain pure, but never get into the nitty gritty of it.
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that is a perfect explanation of what i have been trying to say for a while now.
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That's amazing! I can understand and identify with your feelings.
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Interesting...though I'm sorry to say I've never seen your pic before. Cool picture though
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A beautiful statement fitted with a beautiful image.
You are applauded.
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So many people in this world can relate to this artwork and the underlying story. I am one of such persons, and am extremely grateful for this piece. It is not every day that you find someone who was under such circumstances as you have described to actually be able to see behind the curtains of religious ignorance.
I only wish that more would care to take a rest and look around them and realize that there's more to this world than blind, robotic obedience.
I believe that your work could inspire many, so please continue creating and expressing.
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your welcome~ this piece is exceptional 8D
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Hi,
This piece is so unbelievably beautiful. It's been the first in a very long time to let me look and be stunned, then read the back story, and fall in love. It's so deeply done and I originally faved because I love the job you've done for the legs, they are beyond stunning. I may not agree 100% with you, but that is the wonderful thing about art, you don't have to to understand to appreciate the beauty of the statement.
Great job.
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This is great; I was going to fave it even before i'd read the comments, and then once i'd read them i liked the painting even more.
I think that organised religion can often become so focused on rules, that people become blindly obedient rather than attempting to genuinely hold the qualities which religion should teach us, like peace, tolerance, kindness and selflessness. If there is a God, i'd imagine that he'd be more impressed by those who may never attend church but live their day-to-day lives being kind and thoughtful towards others, than those who blindly follow the rules of organised religion.
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I really like the design of the door... it adds to the picture; to my it implies that these "pure" people are merely puppets, stuck in a box and unable to see out. I doubt I'd like this as much if it were on just plain canvas... the cabinet adds a wonderful touch.
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As always, I continue to love your work and think you did a great job on color choice and the story behind the piece (which I must say I agree very much with).
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did i ever forget to mention your a fucking god?
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No I believe you forgot to mention that. But no I am a mere mortal that has godlike attributes....like water walking.
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do you ever try fishing while you do that?
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And complete and utter badassness.
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So Awesome!!!!!!
And I agree!
I remember the first time my father brought me to his church (they were pentecostal 0_o ) and then they started their whole "SHALALARAH" chanting none sense bit (my dad never did it... thank god )with their eyes rolled rack and hands up in the air bit...I was scared 0_o just scared....I refused to go back, that shit is traumatizing to a little kid who doesn't know wtf is going on! lol
Thankfully my father realized they were nutballs and doesn't go anymore !
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wow. and after reading your comments...all i have to say to that is amen. (haha irony)
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this is great. i love how you paint on cabinet doors. its awesome. the pink is cool too. kind of a mix-it-up in your work.
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...meh. Maybe with some religions. But not with christians. Ever since I joined this youth group that would do Bible studies. I became much more open and peaceful. Waaay better then what I was before. So I wouldn't say exactly that most religions keep you away from life. It really just gives more hope in life, knowing that what ever happens...everything will be ok.
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Every religion has their fanatics. Christians are no different. You were just fortunate enough to find some that may not be so condemning. Don't confuse my words that I am insulting religion, merely the organization of it and how it seems each religion is the "true" religion while the others are false. There's 1 christian God, yet we have different ideologies of what that God wants.
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Well, I would continue. But I know that such a topic as this can go on forever. And has no real right or wrong answer. Other then the lack of respect of other people's religions...Everyone in this world is blind. But what do you expect? No one in this world was given any real direction in life. Something you just have to figure out yourself.
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Oh, very good!
It definitely looks superior to your sketch
I love the backstory on your views. I'm an atheist and a touch of a naturalist, but I have some very Christian friends whom I thought of when viewing this piece. The world is beautiful enough to live in right now; it's senseless to rush through this for hope of something superior, which may be nothing more than an empty promise.
Your color scheme makes this piece stand out. I'm very fond of it.
A cabinet door is an interesting piece on which to work. I'm going to do a two-part painting as soon as I get the other canvas stretched and gessoed. I have a sketch of that and I may post it on DA sometime soon.
The form of this figure is very close to your sketch, did you do anything to facilitate the transfer of this? (projector, printed outline, etc etc) Just curious
This one's going straight to my favorites
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Thank you for such a long and beautiful response. As for the sketch, I printed it up on a couple pieces of paper and did the old pencil transfer. Sucks but until I get a projector, it will have to do.
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*whew,* I'm not the only one that does that
I wasn't sure if that was "cheating" or not, but what the hell. My art teacher had us use a projector once, it was lovely, but they're so terribly expensive. I'll have access to one at school, so I'm very excited for that.
You continue to be one of my biggest inspirations, so thank you for putting out such thought-provoking work
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Thanks Tyler. I have found some projectors for about 150 bucks which isn't too bad but still a steep price for a box of light. My next piece in the halos series should resemble this color palette somewhat. It's gonna be a doozy....ha
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Build/mod a light box/desktop thing to have a removable surface and construct the projector part yourself, if you can find the pieces needed for cheap. A light box is just handy in the first place, so if you don't already have one then it's a two-fer.
It would be worth the time, heh. Just an idea.
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Thanks for the helpfulness
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haha, I'm sure you'll prevail at whatever it is you're doing. It's like my art teacher said on the beauty of painting, if you don't like something, you paint over it until you do. If it completely fails, just gesso over it and start again
If you hold my "Domain" painting up to the light and focus hard enough, you can see a cow that another student was painting earlier before she so kindly gave the canvas to me (the school load was getting too heavy for her, and she was graduating, so she wasn't going to finish it.)
Where did you find these projectors? That's really not a bad price.
I've gotta get ready for work. Bleh.
Talk to you later
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Try craigslist or amazon
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Whoa, crazy imagery here. I agree with you and glad my mum didn't take me unless it was a holiday. I don't like organized religion at all, I really like to kept to myself and worship on my own, whatever I believe in. I guess I don't understand though as to why you chose this figure with blood running down to express it. Don't get me wrong though, I still love it X3
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I think I chose the blood to show my frustration, kind of like clawing at a door until your hands bleed. You could relate it to "cutters" and how they try to use pain to help with pain.....At least those I know used it for those reasons.
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I didn't understand that at first with cutters back in high school. It wasn't until someone cut me across my wrist and after it healed did I have the need to dig my nail down the track of my veins up to the scar to try to ease the pain from inside.
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