Jungle Philosophy - Cute And Inspiring And Disturbing!

Thinking and Stumbling through the Internets I found these things that I would like to share with you...

Mike Wilks, Nativity, part of the The Ultimate Spot-the-Difference Book included 12 paintings, representing the 12 stages of life very similar to the Seven Stages Of Men by Shakespeare, that states infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon, and second childhood, "sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything" as stations of life (also used by Dan Rosa for his Wheel in "The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck", one of my favourite -yes, you are reading it correctly- "books" of all time. Very interesting way of thinking about Life, since it forces us to keep on Searching and coming out of our comfort Zone and to understand our Life and Life with Arts as a Greater Whole... Really love how Scrooge tries a lot of completely different Jobs for some time, always honest to himself, then continues in his persuit to achieve his Dreams...).

Also it made me think of Walton Ford´s Superb Exhibition at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, Bestiarium...

                                                                                  The Sensorium

                                                                                      Fallen Mias

                                                                                   Falling Bough

Each Picture is backed by a very interesting, on most parts beautiful, but sometimes disturbing Story that really makes you think and feel for the Huge Aquarell Paintings (some of them are 2 or 3 Meters wide...:D...) and finally us as Human Beings as well (the Paintings seem to portrait Animals in general, but they always contain metaphors for Human Behaviour and Life in general...  Here is an example for the Falling Brough Painting...

(...) The dung lay several inches deep, covering the whole extent of the roosting place. Suddenly there burst forth a general cry of "Here They Come!". The Noise which they made, though yet a distant, reminded me of a hard gale at sea, passing through the rigging of a close-reefed vessel. As the birds arrived and passed over me, I felt a current of air that surprised me. Thousands were soon knocked down by the pole-men. The Birds continued to pour in. The fires were lighted, and a magnificent, as well as wonderful and almost terrifying, sight presented itself. The Pidgeons, arriving by thousands, alighted everywhere, one above another, until solid masses were formed on the branches all around. Here and there the perches gave way under the weight with a crash, and, falling to the fround, festroyed hundeds of the birds beneath, forcing fown the dense groups with which every tick was loaded. It was a scene of uproar and confusion. I found it quite useless to speak, or even shout to those persons who were nearest to me. Even the reports of the guns were seldom heard, and I was made aware of the firing only by seeing the shooters reloading." ...(...)...

All of his painting have this kind of Story that backs up the Image and allows the Spectator to continue develop a True Story in his head after viewing the Picture... It serves as a kind of Visual Support, a Kick Starter for your Mind, which is what Art should always do, no matter what feelings it will evoke as long as it does something to you personally...

The way those Paintings are presented, -not only from a Technical aspect- is something I would love to see more in Miniature painting as well... Not simply colorating Miniatures from Big Brands, no simple, teenage depictions of Scenes of yet another kitsch Heroic Act that we saw hundreds, maybe thousand times by now, but real genuine ideas about different Atmospheres, interesting narrating Spaces and methaphorical Stories...  There is a lot we can learn from Great Masters and All kinds of Different Fields of Arts, Technology, Media and so on, why limiting ourselves to what has been done already or what appears "okay" for Miniature Painting... The Mind is the limit and last time I checked it is infinite, so go for it...:)...

See more of Mike´s Work and some background information here ...   


See more about "The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck" here ...  


A Video about Walton Fords Bestiarium Exhibition and some information here ... I strongly recommend this Book , Walton Ford´s Pancha Tantra...

Got No Motivation To Paint? Or Ride A Bike? Watch THIS! Feel Happy...:)... Thank you for your time...:)...