Burning Man

Perhaps one day I will make a website called 'thingsthatneverhappened.com'. It would feature a lavish cornucopia of proposals that were rejected and schemes that didn't pan out. A sizable slice of my creative output fits into this genre, and some of the very best of 'thingsthatneverhappened.com' would derive from rejected Burning Man proposals. However, because I really am persistent, I don't let my old ideas and ambitions go just because some gatekeepers closed the gate on me. The painting 'Mars' is an object lesson in my creative tenacity.

Succubus - A 21st Century She-Devil personifying the automated collective consciousness vampirizing the soul of the individual. She is playing with her cellphone, a man bound helplessly to the screen. From her pineal gland to his crotch area extends an ambiguous energy beam. She towers over an archaic fantasy city. Her skin is embedded with circuity, and she wears a sort of chrome armor bikini. It is at once an allegory for humanity's relationship with the internet, and a satire of old courtship games invented with social media and smartphones.

The painting was presented at Burning Man 2018. It was art for the 'I, Robot' Theme of the festival and was installed in the "Man Pavillion" at the three o'clock position of the pedestal on which the Man was mounted.