Elephants

"Elephants" oil on canvas 40x28in

I have been wanting to paint elephants for about two years.

But every time I started developing ideas, I hit a block.  There is a massive amount of information, cultural and factual, about elephants that spans the spectrum from a completely anthropomorphized Dumbo to the ivory trade.  And a lot of this information is strong, emotionally powerful, and deeply image related.

So, there's where the difficulty was.  Elephants are such a loaded topic with such iconic imagery that there's hardly room beyond that.  Then again, going too far beyond the imagery and conservation issues becomes dishonest and ignorant.  This middle ground is where most of my art is and where my elephant painting came from.

Elephants are unique among threatened animal.  The obvious difference is that they're huge land dwellers.  So, unlike the Snow Leopard or the Golden Frog, being cryptic is not an option.  Also, they don't have the dangerous mystique of other threatened animals like the Polar Bear.  This, paired with their ability to live in captivity, makes them a trophy pet for parades, circuses and zoo's.  Also, it allows scientists study them immensely to the point where we have a good understanding of their emotional habits, their social structures, and the way they live--all things that are super fashionable in popular science.  And, after all of this knowledge, interaction, contact, popularization, they still get wiped out by the masses for ivory.

I'm not wondering why this happens (I get it), it's just an interesting case and frustrating to digest.  It's a sad truth--a loved animal, that can't seem to survive.  

Their size is another thing I wanted to focus on.  They remind us that in our world right now, animal size can do more harm than good.  They're massive, but could be swashed like a bug if we don't pay attention.  And by "pay attention" I mean rigorous funding, ad campaigns, and political involvement from multiple countries including the U.S. and China (high hopes?). 

With my painting I wanted to restore the distance and mystery of the elephant.  The sad calm that comes from being too big to hide and the isolation of a species under threat.  I want to have a momentary appreciation for elephants where the danger of their situation doesn't trump the beauty.  To me, my painting is sad--I could hardly handle researching elephants because of the constant stream of horrifying images and stories that the internet had for me (don't google "ivory").  With all the economics, national interests, international codes, sovereignty, trade regulations, government, and politics in general--it is a sad story.  Because in the middle of all of that noise, is a species that is struggling. 



Hope you like it!

BROOKLYN RAW!!! JUNE 19TH!!

I'm in the Brooklyn RAW Artist Art Show Event!!  June 19th 8pm-midnight at 74 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn.


I have to sell 20 tickets in order to be in the show, so if you want to come, click here:  http://www.rawartists.org/jackiedorage


There's going to be a DJ, fashion show, film screening, and lots of art.  Plus, I'll be showing lots of my new pieces!

BUY TICKETS!!

Bumble Bees--again.

Bee's have really long tongues.

Cons--they sting.  Pros--too many to list.

I still don't like bees, but somehow with everything else I research, they keep popping up.  This time, I was looking up houseflies--they taste with their feet, spit on food, then vacuum it up with their bizarre tube-mouth.  Awesome.

In searching the BBC nature website for more information on an ancient Chinese method of solving murder mysteries with houseflies, I came across a gem of an article called "Bomblebees to the Rescue" 

Ridiculously stupid name.  But, the point is made--bee's are now being trained to sniff out bombs.  Apparently, a bees sense of smell is comparable  to a dogs and, with less training time necessary, way cheaper.    Bees are such an attractive choice that the UK has given Heathrow Airport 250,000 pounds to start a bumblebee project.  And now, the flood gates have opened--bee's are starting to be used in detecting landmines, illegal drug trafficking, and scientists are seeing if they can detect illness in humans. 

There is a down-side.  First, there are a plethora of reasons why you can't have bees flying around, free of restraint.   Obviously, that would terrify any one in an enclosed area.  But also, such as the case of detecting landmines, bee's have a short attention span.  Yes, it takes them 5 seconds to learn (no, seriously...I read it, 5 seconds to learn), but if there are any tasty fruit trees around, they're off the job. 

To combat this problem, scientists at Heathrow developed a vacuum cleaner-like mechanism that houses bees who have been trained to stick out their (incredibly long) tongue when they smell their target.  Then, a sensor goes off when it detects the tongue and Done!  Illicit material, FOUND!

My prediction for the future: bee's sensing cancerous tumors, bee's sensing dangerous gas leaks, and me still being afraid of bees.