Digital Artwork created by me (Jaustin)
“My soul, my soul, where are you? Do you hear me? I speak, I call you – are you there? I have returned, I am here again. I have shaken the dust of all the lands from my feet, and I have come to you, I am with you. After long years of long wandering, I have come to you again.”
– Carl Jung, The Red Book
Specs:
Original Sizing: 20 in. by 20 in.
Acrylic on tablet
Oh Just me practicing my people sketching skills while flexing my color theory. Definitely doesn’t have any deeper meanings about how much I dislike my phone. Each of the “scenes” are from a specific frame of a movie. I couldn’t think of what to put in the middle until I decided it’d be cool to have someone watching all the movies to make it some Movieception thing. But, there was no way I was going to draw the people again so I decided on trying out some cubism technique and I’d say it worked out pretty well
Some of the movies are pretty famous, others not so much. This may take hours or it may take years, we’ll see.
First Hint: A Glass Case of Emotion!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fmHCNfowbQ
Specs:
Original Sizing: 24 in. by 18 in.
Acrylic on Tablet
PSD file
“It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism”
– Slavoj Zizek / Frederick Jameson
This is so sad. Alexa play Despacito.
Specs:
Original Sizing: 24 in. by 18 in.
Acrylic Brushes on Tablet
PSD File
“The darkening of the world makes the irrationality of art rational: radically darkened art.” ― Theodor W. Adorno
Mimesis.
Specs:
Original Sizing: 18 in. by 12 in.
Acrylic Brushes on Tablet
I don’t even know where to start on this one. First of all, this is probably the piece I’m most proud of. I started this in August 2021, drawing each pixel out every day for about 4 months until I decided I had enough. I didn’t even finish it. You can tell if you look closely some parts are a lot cleaner than others because I couldn’t be bothered to work on this for a second longer. Anyways, time for the bread and butter, why did I do this? Umm well, you see, It was fun! It’s fun pointing out the irony of what it means to be living and breathing in this day and age. I mean there are so many contradictions floating around life but I want to talk about one in particular. All the time I hear professors, the media, and everyone talking about commodifying sustainability, basically incentivizing businesses to act green. I get the idea, but can we take a step back for a minute. Is overconsumption not one of the biggest contributors to global warming? So first of all, are we really gonna try commodifying global warming as a response to too much commodification (lol)? And also, why are we giving these corporations that singlehandedly started this whole sustainability trend a chance to capitalize off their own wrongdoing without holding them accountable? It’s like how in Silence of the Lambs Hannibal Lecter gets pardoned from jail to help solve the identity of the Buffalo Bill, except in this case Hannibal was Buffalo Bill the whole time, and instead of living in the insane asylum x amount of years he just got a parking ticket. That’d be the shittiest remake ever. This isn’t even what I was thinking about while making GIGATREE, I just had this thought today while thinking about what to write and felt it fit the vibe.
Specs:
Original Sizing: 24 in. by 18 in.
Acrylic on Tablet
PSD File
Boredom doesn’t feel the same as it used to. It’s almost like being bored was replaced with being anxious. When I’m bored it’s not like I have nothing to do, Instead, it’s that I have too much to do. But I’m too overwhelmed to do anything about it. At least I think I’m too overwhelmed to do anything about it. Maybe it’s not that I’m bored, it’s just that everything is boring. Like damn, miss me with the hours of class I need to go through to get insurance for my G2, I already know how to drive. MISS ME with these tedious zoom classes we have every day. And most importantly, MISS ME with these repetitive news segments that spew the SAMO every day. It’s like these attempts to get rid of boredom have only made my tolerance for not being bored higher. Or maybe I just have a “chemical imbalance”. Professor Mark Fisher, whom I’d consider a mentor of mine, was the first I heard say the line, “No one is bored, everything is boring”, which I thought was strange. This piece, along with the rest of the HYPERREAL collection pays homage to him, as well as expands on his work and others. By the way, I just threw in the chemical imbalance line because it’s a word used way too much and it implies that mental health is some sort of black and white interpersonal thing, as if the larger environment, politics, and economics surrounding you doesn’t play a role.
Specs:
Original Sizing: 20 in. by 20 in.
Acrylic on tablet
The title says it all, decode this message. I’ve hid a very special message in those 4 characters. All of the hints you need are tied in with the rest of the HYPERREAL paintings, so study up. The answer to this is written on a piece of paper and locked in a safe buried 50 miles underground. Not even my parents know what this means.
First-person to do so will be awarded with the intellectual property of this piece which means you can do anything you’d like with the art, for example, NFT the fuk out of it.. You will get an encrypted ZIP file containing a contract granting you the IP and the official PSD file I used to create this.
This is definitely something a fifth-grader could decipher so don’t overthink it.
DM or Email me your answers.
https://benignmalevolence.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Screen_Recording_20220522-194325_YouTube-1.mp4
Specs:
Original Sizing: 12 in. by 8 in.
Made with the standard brush my tablet comes with.
PSD File
The goal with this sketch was to have it so someone can look at this for hours and still discover new features hidden inside. There are so many damn Easter eggs hidden I spent hours researching this piece, not to mention actually drawing it. This took so freaking long I’m very proud of myself.
Specs:
Original Sizing: 16 in. by 9 in.
Pencil on paper. Scanned to make digital.
Word to Aristotle.
The best art opens up your mind thereby taking you out of your comfort zone. The best art is uncomfortable.
Specs:
Original Sizing: 24 in. by 18 in.
Acrylic Brushes
Digital
Apart of the “Three Rooms” collection
This painting Boethius is in reference to the Roman philosopher who was falsely imprisoned and executed on charges of conspiracy to overthrow King Theodoric the Great . It also features nods to Van Gogh, as well as the fictional character Andrew Laeddis from the book/movie Shutter Island.
Each of these individuals experienced despair to the fullest extent due to their own tragedies reaching a similar conclusion (a cell). Yet each managed to reach a sense of solace through coming to grips and maximizing their current situation, no matter their conclusions.
Specs:
Original Sizing: 24 in. x 18 in.
Acrylic Brushes
Digital
Apart of the “Three Rooms” collection
