Social Networking (Life on Venus)

Was this painting ahead of its time? It the bottom left it says 'Hold yourself Together" which was actually from a Nirvana song. By 2012 social media had pretty much taken over most people's lives, it was a digital revolution that forever changed socializing and working. The painting depicts a kind of evolution of humanity into a physical meld of flesh and bone. The paradox of the title is how can you socially network while living on venus. These days in the tail end of the lockdown (we hope), the feelings of isolation and dependency on social networking via the internet is at an all time high.

After 2010 I tried to 'open up' this style a bit by using brighter colours and introducing more open space into the design. For example, in the top center there is a white wedge shape of just paper showing with no detail. One of the characters looks into the void. Each doodle element also gets more space and has its own little segment of the design, whereas in my older painting done in this style the doodles are crammed in everywhere. The colour scheme is muted pastel primaries, it relies a lot on the fugitive red alizarin crimson in the tints. If any of my paintings like this (prior to 2020) are ever hung, they should be framed in UV coated glass and kept out of the direct sun. Since January I only use lightfast pigments, although there are still a few questionable ones I will phase out.

22 x30" cold press, watercolour, 2012