Branding: What is My Theme?

Transcendance

"And the dancer pirouettes her last as she transcends from life to death. Her blood turns blue, her dress whithers away, and she transforms into dust. All that is left is a memory of her form and beauty, but one that will now always be overshadowed by the feeling of loss. Our youth does perish ... Memento Mori."

Brand is something that keeps appearing throughout our lives. Every student, sports player, business person, and artist has their own personal brand. In the art world, brand is everything, and it manifests itself in the artwork that is produced. Artists brands are a combination of style (comic book, anime, fine art, abstract, realism, etc.), material (ink, paper, oil, etc.), and subject matter (still life, figurative, portraiture, nature, story, etc.). But then below subject matter comes theme. Or as Jerry Saltz says, "content."

My subject matters have dealt with History, Hungarians, Christianity, Superheroes, Skulls, Dancers, and so forth. But this piece, Transcendance, brought to light a common thread across all the subject matters, and that is the theme of life and death. When I do figurative pieces such as generals from history they represent war, soldiers perishing, blood, which are all death. When I paint Jesus on the cross, he represents the ultimate symbol of death, but also rebirth (from a Christian perspective). When I illustrate Dancers, their flowing robes and gorgeous forms represent the vibrancy of life. When I draw a skull, it is representing both as it is the symbol of Memento Mori - being aware of death in order to appreciate life.

This is the deepest theme behind all of my artwork. This is why when I look at my artwork, the emotions that stir within me are so vast the unconscious mind responds so powerfully to life and death. This is why when I think through my next piece, it must resonate with either the theme of life, death or both. It also explains why the stained glass pieces from my previous blog post also resonated with me so much.

Until now, I was not aware that this was the deep seated theme behind my pieces. Now the question that I end this post with is, "that I now know my theme, will knowing it create more inspiration or more creative blocks?"