"The Future's So Bright aka Fallen Angel Post-Rapture Vision No.3" 2012
Velveeta Heartbreak
Brooklyn, USA
64" (162.5cm) x 48" (122cm), pencil on paper
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The "fallen angel" is the archetype of the rebellious spirit, the one who cannot respect authority, and in the case of certain ancient religious texts, the "fallen angel" is the one who rebels against god, and is cast out of heaven, and thus falls to earth. These ancient texts describe the fall of 'the watchers', the angels who fathered the 'nephilim', or 'fallen angels'. They fell to earth and became giants, because they wished to live an earthly life. The myth is not unlike that of Icarus. Like Icarus (who was trapped in a labyrinth with his dad, and so his dad created wax wings for him to fly, which Icarus did so well, he flew all the way to the sun, the wings melted, and the poor bugger fell back to earth)... Anyways, these 'nephilim', they desired their freedom, and in familiar fashion, flew too close to the sun, and were burnt out of the sky. Another name for this precocious child, who steals the father or mother's thunder, is 'lucifer', the shining one, the morning star, kicked out of heaven by a jealous god. This ancient meme is found also in 'prometheus', who, in order to spite his angry master, steals fire from mount olympus and gives it to the mortals. The 'fallen angel' has either voluntarily left heaven, or has been kicked out, but either way, he's fucked. He seeks to mix with, and live by, the ways of mankind, but he is not human. Nor is he any longer of heaven. The 'fallen angel' is no longer a true angel, he is trapped in a psychic borderland, always hoping for heaven to come to earth. He is always offering a glimpse of his magic and miracles to the mere mortals he's surrounded by, imparted via a broken language of heaven, visions his human companions cannot truly comprehend. He is the great deceiver, living amongst men, yet unable to truly mate with them, sing their songs, or play their games.
Fast forward several thousand years. Our hero walks on the waters of the East River, between Brooklyn (earth) and Manhattan (heaven), the skyline always there, across the water, visible, just out of reach. Between his legs a mushroom cloud rises, in it a vision of the old man's face, the libido has become impotent rage. The faces of dead souls, his supposed comrades, those he'd hoped to bond with, and succeed with, rise through the clouds. From the bushes framing this spectacle slithers a snake, and from another bush, the hand of 'eve', offering up her 'big apple'. This 'angel' is but a 'skeleton of his former self', the only fleshly remains being his pineal gland, or third-eye. Like disney's 'maleficent', his wings have been clipped, and put in a display case, admired by some, but useless for flying. The 'fallen angel' cannot return home, and gazes wistfully into heaven, but he has gazed upon the blinding sun of all time, and wears the dark shades of a blind man as a result. The rose, whose overlapping petals constantly unfold to infinity, grows upon his head. Above him we see the eyes of a 'watcher', who gets his jollies not by descending to earth, but by peeping. And finally, at the very top, the hands of nature, placing the infinite building blocks of time and space.
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