The Painting That Ate Paris

I was going through my old paintings, and I found this:

I have no fucking clue where this came from, but I made it, and it’s real. This is an acrylic on canvas, measuring about five feet by two-and a half feet. It’s title, “Project David.” The photo can’t really do it justice, as the canvas has been crumpled from being rolled up for years. I probably painted it about ten years ago, you see, and it hasn’t seen the light of day since.

I have no recollection of ever having worked on this painting. By the scale and the detail I put into it, I probably spent a couple weeks playing with it. Those weeks are lost to my memory. I assume it was for my painting and drawing class in university. It may have even been on display briefly in the halls of UFV, or UCFV, as it was called then.

I have no idea how I could have put so much effort into something and then not remember anything about it. It’s almost as if someone else made this, although the style is all my own.

I have to guess what the subject matter is about:

The figure is sporting a mane of hair and beard reminiscent of Jesus, but that may be a red herring. He could merely be unkempt. He’s also bleeding from the head and chest. The red blood was likely added as the work’s “dynamic,” which was a requirement by my teacher. It’s something to draw the eye and contrast against the black and grey cloudy background. Although it doesn’t immediately strike me, I may have screwed up on rendering the moustache, which may have led me to hate this work from the get-go. Up close, though, it doesn’t look all that bad in those areas. It’s when the light hits it a certain way it blends into the mud-brown and loses the brushwork.

The figure is also bare-chested. I may have posed for it in the mirror, but it doesn’t look quite like my body. I’m much more hairy than this figure. I was confused by the object in his hands, but it appears to be a space helmet. It wouldn’t fit snugly over his head, so it would have to have a suit where it probably attached to, leaning forward in a half-moon shape. The black circle in the front of the dome would likely be a speaker. His arms and the helmet are propped on what must be a grey table.

As best I can guess by the title there’s a whole story attached to this, and it’s probably “Event Horizon”-esque.

Strange.