Truth Beetle: acrylic on canvas. 12” x 12”
In this painting, a beetle with human arms and a mouth for a head flip off the symbol of the horned god. I painted this as a way to work out my emotions regarding artistic labor and vulnerability. Like the beetle, it takes perseverance, strength and hard work to create art that reflects what is in the soul. Artists use our hands to make this into a reality and make speaking our truth possible. In this case, the beetle’s entire head is devoted to speaking it’s truth despite the imposing masculine symbol looming above. It’s scary to be so publicly raw. But, the truth beetle shows us that it is possible to say “Fuck the man” and be our truest, most authentic, strange, genuine, and creative selves.