Release:Behind the Clownface

Asa Nisi Masa, 2016, oil on board, 32″ x 24″

 

Behind the Clownface

Justin Sonny Eagles

Behind the Clownface is the newest collection of paintings by oil painter Justin Sonny Eagles. The paintings engage the audience with the struggle and absurdity of life as a artist; not just his financial struggles but also tackling the balance between the creative process and everyday life.

Eagles adopted an idea similar to method acting in order to bring authenticity to these new paintings. “If brushwork gives a painting it’s character, and brushwork is a reflection of the artist himself and their state of being, then my theory is that the artist needs to be in the same emotional state as story of the painting.” For extended periods Eagles slept two-three hours a night and ate minimally to open the doors to a dream-like state and then began painting…one could say in order to tell the visual story desired in Behind the Clownface the artist took every step to crack his own sanity.

The emotional struggle in Ghosts and What Now highlight the solitude of an artist and the resulting obsession that strains his relationships with his close loved ones. In Demon more aggressive brushstrokes convey the anger, aggravation, and frustrations of an artist trying to live as a “true artist in a modern world where cultural fascination with plastic imagery, creating controversy, and making money come first.”

The effects of sleep depravation and how far one is willing to go to create art are felt in What is Real and Asa Nisi Mas. Asa Nisi Masa particularly explores the artist living against the everyday social patterns around him as he stands apart from every other element within the painting: his captured manic eyes, crazed hands composing a solo-delusional orchestra, direction opposed to the crowd behind him. Despite the subject remaining black and white, Eagles distinguishes him by using different tones than the rest of the composition.

Behind the Clownface may be a personal story of life as an artist but it especially aims to tell the story of life as a human being. The collection is an attempt to help the non-artist see past the assumptions of how all artists (painters, filmmakers, writers, actors, musicians) live and work. Behind the mask this artist holds up to face the world is the embodiment of life’s struggle which we can all relate to.

Behind the Clownface collection release: August 2016.

For more Justin Sonny Eagles visit the artists website at http://www.justinsonnyeagles.com

~ by jsesautte on July 21, 2016.