Month: October 2021

There is much unauthentic information floating around the internet, making it difficult to separate right from wrong. The same is true for human portraits. Sophisticated media tools are now used to change pictures and videos.

There is undeniable truth, however, when painting from a live model where the artist draws and paints. While I don’t think there is anything terribly wrong with using technical aids, the experience of producing work of art–as well as the final product–is very different. For many generations, very simplified versions of art has dominated the market. And, while the same might be expected for unforeseeable future, more people are seeking to learn the better way of drawing and painting, because we can.

I fundamentally believe that human are in the midst of great awakening, an outcome from the flood of information that is available to us today. while we are fed so much information and images that have been obscured, we are beginning to differentiate good art from the bad; authentic art from fake. This is a natural progress of humankind.

Here is the final product from one of my latest projects. I had posted ‘work-in-progress’ photo of this work on Instagram and in my earlier post, so if you are looking for the final version, this is it.

What happened while working on this portrait?

Squid Game: So much has happened since beginning to paint this portrait. Probably the most relevant update is that the entire planet has gone nuts watching “Squid Game“. Full disclosure: I haven’t seen the series just yet.

Covid-19: Seriously speaking, all has gone okay here in New York City since reopening businesses and schools. According to New York Times Covid Tracker, in the last 7 days–ending 15 October 2021–there has been 1,316 Covid Cases and 12 deaths in New York City. When looking at the entire U.S. data, though, one can see that we are still not out of the woods, showing 98,560K cases and 1,587 deaths in the same period. So in many ways, perhaps, things are not so good, but both case and death counts are trending down.

Economy: Global supply chain is under stress. What does that even mean? Basically prices of many things that we purchase at supermarkets and items that we need have gone up.

So these are some selected stories behind this portrait. Things are returning to normal, but it’s going to take some time to be really normal.

There are many reasons to start painting—or drawing. I can tell you thousand reasons.

I love to see the world with my naked eyes, and painting gets me there faster than any other way.

Making art is an art itself. And, there are many reasons and ways to do it.

Seeing is believing, but one can’t see if you don’t believe.

What do you see?

It has been a pleasure to reunite with one of my favorite models from NYC. As you many recall, my painting of him, Daedalus and His Wings, was completed in early 2020, just before NYC shutdown businesses due to COVID-19.

Do you know the story of the Daedalus? If you are not familiar with the Greek Mythology, you can read about it from Wikipedia-Daedalus.

I plan to name this new painting, “The Great Escape from the Labyrinth”.

Following are photos of my color study for this particular project.