"What good is it for someone to gain the whole world,
yet forfeit their soul?"
- Jesus Christ
Fall is here! And, of course this means that the new semester at school has also arrived, which allows less time for me to invest in my ambitious little art projects. Nonetheless, I managed to get a few things done before summer's end - in a flurry of creative activity, I cranked out a few fun sketches, found an online home for my music, and did some preliminary sketches for a new freelance project called "Mary Mary Quite," abbreviated as "MMQ." This bottom image here - the half horse, half truck (or as I like to call it, the "truckotaur") - is a quick preview of what's to come for MMQ artwork. Let this whet your appetite for a slew of more finished sepia illustrations, to be published as a kindle book with an assortment of many humorous tales and meditations on motherhood. Keep your eyes open for more MMQ stuff later.
The three images closer to the bottom have to do with my (semi-) new Bandcamp page, called "M.A.P. of D.C.," which stands for "musical art projects of David Condry." Alas, there's only one song there as of yet, but eventually (say, within the next couple of decades) I'd like to put up an album or few. We'll see how that goes. In the meantime, you can click on "music *NEW*" above, or just listen to my first published track right, "a unique universe {restored}," right here:
And finally, a meditation on an impromptu picture: the drawing at the very top, which I call "The Go-Getters," was totally unplanned. Still, as it unfolded, I stumbled upon a sort of narrative or homiletic theme, so I went with it. As it turned out, we have three characters juxtaposed, each representing a different, basic worldview. The first from the left has a level-headed gaze. Let this signify someone who neither seeks to exalt nor humble him- or herself. "Contentment-without-change" is the byword for this type, aiming neither to harm nor help, only to maintain the comfy stagnancy. Then, in the middle, we see a larger face of one who, in contrast, decidedly seeks change. With his gaze fixed upwards, this figure symbolizes the thrust - or lust - for greatness, an unsettled will endlessly intent on obtaining just "a little bit more."1 Since neither stagnation nor arrogation make for a sound ethos, a third figure necessarily appears - third from the left - representing a worldview that proves not only subjectively fulfilling but universally harmonious. His eyes are gently turned downwards. He stands for the person whose concern is neither self-preservation nor self-aggrandizement, but rather to benefit those besides him- or herself. One gains life by giving it away.
"Then [Jesus] called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" Mark 8:34-36, NIV
1. Often, "just a little bit more" has been credited to John D. Rockerfeller as his response to the question, "How much money is enough?" http://starwinar.wordpress.com/daily-short-story/just-a-little-bit-more/
