Ribald imagery of buxom females offset against reptilian demons fascinates me. That particular juxtaposition, between scantily clad, voluptuous ladies and scaly monsters, represents a deeply embedded male fantasy. It takes a true artist to fully grasp the nuances. Billy is such an artist. I discovered his art on the web, wherefrom it has since disappeared. I downloaded scans of his drawings and used them as the core images for the brief animations comprising Darkness Churns. I have a vague recollection of Billy's online bio (his last name was never indicated). Evidently Billy is in prison, convicted of a serious crime. He is either doing hard time or is on Death Row - I believe in Texas or one of those places that takes the death penalty very seriously. I would like to contact Billy. If he has access to a computer and the web, I would love for him to see Darkness Churns.
Darkness Churns expands upon the artistic path I set upon with Authentic Forgery/Forged Authenticity. It is made up of 23 animations, each composed of 20 frames. The frames vary in duration from a 10th of a second to 1 and 3/4 seconds. As in Authentic Forgery/Forged Authenticity, I sample, process, and animate the imagery of another artist. In Authentic Forgery/Forged Authenticity it was my anonymous forger buddy, with whom Billy has more than a little in common. Billy is not a forger, but he is certainly an outlaw and he is tapping into popular iconography, much as my forger buddy tapped into Keith Haring's iconic public art. Like my forger buddy, Billy is, in a sense, anonymous, flying under the radar. His imagery is raw, visceral. Creatively, Billy took me to a place where I saw the shimmering beauty at the heart of darkness.