What is Pop Expressionism?

Well…it’s what I call my style of art. It’s about rebellion in the most whimsical way.

I am an odd bird. I have always been ridiculously aware of how odd my personality is and it’s probably the reason I continue to evolve in my art and my life.

I honestly started out in my childhood, drawing exactly what I saw. I learned some from the art books I would be given as gifts as I grew up fairly impoverished.

Contrary to popular belief, I can and have drawn realistically even though I am self taught and only seem to create unrealistic art.

My art is an escape for me. Something to funnel my mind into as my world falls apart around me…or…realistically, it’s my perception that my world is falling apart around me at that moment.

Either way, it’s therapy.

I hate doing realism, though.

My art is very colorful and curvy. You don’t really see a lot of whimsical curves in life.

I very much dislike staring at things intently and creating something I can look around and see.

I love bright, bold colors and curves. Swirls. Escapism.

Hmmm…maybe I should call it Pop Escapism.

Watch other artists create… hard lines everywhere. Ugh. It’s hard for me to see the beauty in those hard lines.

Not the beauty of their work or the talent it takes, but the hard lines.

Maybe because reality can be ugly and lacking freedom.

I wonder if there should be a psychological study on artists and how they come up with their art.

Maybe the more realistic your work, the more sane you are…the less chance your parents messed you up? Maybe?

I wouldn’t change my childhood, as difficult as it was. It was pretty traumatizing, actually, but I have learned so much from it.

Artists, fantastic artists that I admire and even envy, love to tell me that I need to work on my lines, but my uneven lines, my swirls are purposeful…mostly…there’s a few exceptions.

I will explain.

My paintings include a lot of trees and vines. I enjoy the movement trees and vines can give me and how almost human they become. Almost like a ballet dancer, graceful in a twisted pose.

I rebel against the hard lines.

In art, I am incredibly rebellious. That’s pretty much the total explanation of pop expressionism.

Rebellion…and whimsy.

Rebellion against the lines. Rebellion against reality.

If I copy anything at all, I stop early on to add my own spin to it. I use a photo or an object mostly just as an inspiration and I have to defy it. I have to rebel against the reality of it. I have to rebel the lines. I have to rebel the colors. I have to create something that is my own.

I feel it’s my way to express myself and possibly give myself room to be avoidant in a lot of ways. To hide in plain sight.

I do see the decades of my childhood and teen years seep into my work.

Maybe my art is my Never, Neverland? The childhood I never had? The rebellion against growing up?

Maybe it’s the magic and whimsy I always wanted to find?

Maybe it’s my rebellion against all the things I couldn’t control? My rebellion against all the things I could never say? My rebellion against society and the norms they invoke?

Whatever it is, my way definitely takes longer to create, but it’s mine. In all it’s detail and lack of detail. In all the swirls and colors. It’s mine.

Pop Expressionism…I think it’s about rebellion…and whimsy.