This isn't really a review persé, so much as it is an explanation. There's simply not enough room in any of the descriptions for artwork to provide this kind of in-depth self-critique. However, I really feel some of these details are important. If you have not seen the particular work I'm referring to, "Frost and Fire", please go look it up and take a view, then come back to read. Explanations are always better when there's something to explain, rather than before the fact.
This piece is a bit psychological in nature. No, it is not necessary to know anything about psychology to enjoy the piece. Psychology, to me, is similar to a magician’s magic tricks. I try to manipulate the viewer a bit through imagery and subliminal ideas, in order to keep them looking at an image longer.
Did you notice that both the hands are RIGHT hands? The very same hand, in fact, just in different colors. This detail was a little bit more obvious than what I ordinarily prefer, and far more people catch it before I tell them than they do with any other piece I’ve drawn or written. However, Still less than around 10% of the people I’ve shown this too have noticed it at all.
The idea is that hidden details such as that, even though it isn’t REALLY hidden, cause a viewer to keep looking at an image longer. Why? I already said that over %90 of people didn’t even so much as notice the detail, so why would it affect them at all? Oftentimes, the subconscious mind will pick up minor details such as the two right hands, but the conscious mind does not. The result is that a person gets an ‘odd’ feeling about the piece, either a feeling that something is somehow ‘off’ with it, or are drawn to it, and are unable to figure out why. That’s the ideal situation, anyway. Obviously, the trick doesn’t work if the detail is noticed consciously, nor will it work if the detail is too cryptic for the subconscious mind to see. The more obvious it is, the more likely the subconscious will see it. But at the same time, the more likely the conscious will see it. It’s a very tricky art medium to use, and depends largely on WHO is viewing the piece, for whom it is intended.
Another detail of the image is found in the orange-ish hand on the lower left of the piece. The thumb of this hand has three segments, with two joints in between. Now look at your own right-hand thumb. See the difference? The human thumb has only two segments, and one joint. (Unless of course you count the joint joining the thumb to the hand itself, but even still, there are only two segments)
On another note, an easier way to use subliminal ideas in a piece is simply tweaking things a bit. By this, I mean purposefully make things… ‘off’. Say you have a street with buildings? (Such as my “En Route” piece). Mess with their perspective a bit. maybe the bottoms of the buildings will clearly show the buildings are all side-by –side and in line, but up above, they seem to have a small bit of space. maybe they get slightly larger at the top, or narrow out. (tweaking that particular detail can also help an alleyway seem a lot more overwhelming) I don’t mean any massive changes. I mean something that’s off by only a couple degrees. something so slight, that people don’t really notice it at all. That’s the whole idea. Methods like this tend to make true surrealism a bit easier to achieve.