My encounter with a hero

Pre-read warning: I tried to not be mushy and sentimental but I failed. So this post is almost completely mushy.
 On July 11, 2014 I had the unique opportunity to meet one of my childhood heroes, the original Red Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. When I initially heard about the event I was like “this is awesome” and I couldn’t wait for the event to occur. It really wasn’t until the event when I was standing in front of Austin St. John a.k.a Jason that I realized how huge something like this was to me. Anyone who knows me knows that on a long enough timeline knows that I will blabber on and on about Power Rangers. Ever since I was a kid I have to the point where I think people were just like “we get it stfu already.” I didn’t shut up and there were collective ugh’s and sighs whenever I brought up the topic. I didn’t care and looking back I realize that I shouldn’t have cared.
     Mighty Morphin Power Rangers hit television sets on August 28th 1993 and if I told you I remember exactly where I was when that show debuted that’d be a lie. During that time my miniature oversized self was going through a lot. My childhood home had burned down forcing my family to live in a homeless shelter for awhile. During which my mom became very ill and had to be hospitalized which in turn cause me and my older sister to live with our grandmother. Eventually my mother passed on to the next world subsequently making me a motherless and fatherless child.
     Despite all this I was completely and utterly enthralled with this group of teenagers from different backgrounds who were summoned together because they had “attitude” and when they were in trouble they would reach behind their backs and pull out belt buckles hold them out and scream the name of an animal from the age of dinosaurs. Doing this would put them in a costume composed of tightly fitting spandex and really cool motorcycle helmets. They would fight for awhile, get beat down, strategize and finally defeat the enemy. Then the lady who called for the monster’s creation would throw her wand down from the moon to the earth, the ground would open up causing smoke to come out causing the recently defeated monster to grow to epic proportions. This was no problem for these spandex clad heroes because they would put their hands up to the sky, once again calling the name of their animals causing giant mechanized versions of them to appear. They would fight the giant monster separately with their beasts but that seldom worked so they would combine their animals to create a giant humanoid robot to combat this giant monster terrorizing the city.
     Say what you want about this series or the concept I described, but to kids across the United States and around the world this was EPIC!! We all wanted to be Power Rangers and this caught on so well that we are 21 years removed from that original season and Power Rangers is still going strong. The children around the world like me grew up and still collect the action figures, some grew up to remake things like the morphers or weapons used in the show and some even grew up and donned the spandex of their favorite rangers to attend conventions and get opportunities to meet other former cast members.
     I still love Power Rangers and even got into the Japanese source series titled Super Sentai. When I was a child I wanted to be a power ranger so badly, not for the spandex suits or the giant robots. As a child who recently lost his home and eventually his mother I wanted the power to bring her back. I look back at this and I know the show never said anything about resurrecting the dead, however that show gave me and millions of others hope. My hope at the time may have been unrealistic and looking back it most certainly was however if I had the opportunity I would still be a power ranger. There were episodes where the odds were most definitely stacked against the Power Rangers and in those insurmountable odds there was an air of hoplessness. However they were very resilient and continued to fight even when their odds of victory were slim. When they put their passion behind it and that theme song came on fans new that it was about to get real. It was that “never give up” attitude that inspired millions around the world. Not only that when they weren’t transformed in spandex they were generally good people. They did what they could to make their community better even without super powers. This is why if I ever had the chance to be a Power Ranger I would jump at the opportunity as would countless others.
     My meeting with Austin St. John went somewhat like this. I walked up to him and shook his hand and he asked me how I was feeling. I wanted to be cool and collected in this moment, but I really couldn’t. The moment was almost surreal “This is heavy…” I responded. Austin immediately questioned my statement and I followed up with “20 years ago I used to rush home after school to watch you on TV and now I’m standing here shaking your hand.” He was cool, just smiled and said “You’re just saying this to make my ass feel old.” I was able to take a picture with him as I was holding my custom painted toy morpher and our interaction was over. The event went on, I got to chat with some cool fans of Power Rangers and Austin continued to shake hands, give out autographs and give special moments to others. The brevity of my moment is insignificant, the weight of the moment is. I couldn’t properly articulate it in the moment and it took me the rest of the day to thoroughly process what happened.
 This is what I have to say to Mr. St. John, he may never read this but it is what I have to say: Thank you for being an inspiration, not only to me and other children my age but an entire generation. Some of whom are passing the hope and inspiration on to their children so they can grow to be better people. Currently my hope is that I can do something along the lines of what you did and become a beacon of hope to others as well. I’m not entirely sure yet how, but hopefully I will figure it out soon. Keep being as awesome and as down to Earth as you were in our brief interaction and continue being Morphenomenal.
Sincerely, A lifetime fan
 

I talk about Super Sentai

As a kid I loved Power Rangers. In all actuality I don't believe I ever stopped loving power rangers it always had a special nostalgic place in my heart. I remember watching Mighty Morphin, Zeo, skipping turbo (I don't think my young brain could handle that crap season) and the last one I watched as a kid was In Space which had a fairly well done plot when it comes to Power Rangers seasons. As I grew older I would catch an old episode of MMPR here and there and I really didn't watch much of the other seasons because in my eyes and probably in the eyes of others that was the best season because of the nostalgic place it holds. Prior to the age where the internet was easily accessible to so many people, we had no way of knowing that Power Rangers was derived from this show in Japan called Super Sentai and especially no means of watching it over here. A couple years ago I was able to watch my first season of Super Sentai which was called Dairanger. Dairanger was where Mighty Morphin Power Rangers got their thunder zords and the white ranger from. When I watched Dairanger I saw elements of this show that were not transposed into the American adaptation of the series. One of the things in particular was a plot and sub plots that you could follow and get invested in as opposed to the I'm the bad guy here's a monster out of an arbitrary object. I'm not bashing power rangers in any way but as I progressed through the series I became more invested in what was unfolding. Another thing was with Power Rangers we get these guys dressed as monsters smashing up these towns, however in the Japanese counterpart you see the buildings crumbling and the citizens fleeing and one or two people trapped under rubble. Small touches but they add context and go a long way in gaining the interest of an older viewer. After finishing the season I kinda felt cheated from the product that we got stateside. After watching that season I went on to watch a season called Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger which happened to be their 35th anniversary season and I was absolutely amazed. The plot begins with a threat facing the earth which requires the 34 previous Super Sentai to gather and fight off. The aftermath of this is that in the fight all of them lose their powers and they are scattered throughout the galaxy. A space pirate gathers most of the keys through his ventures he amasses a crew. Their destination is Earth where they are told the greatest treasure in the universe lies. Concurrently, the evil forces that fought the previous 34 sentai have returned to take over the planet Earth as they have taken over and destroyed most of the planets in the galaxy. The forces attack and initially the pirates have no interest in protecting the planet or its people. Through their search for treasure they learn elements of humanity that give them insight on why both the planet and the people inhabiting it are worth protecting. I was amazed that they made the protagonist antiheroes because it was not something I was used to seeing in Power Rangers. It took the black and white of good guys vs. bad guys and added in a grey area. This season also features a plethora of cameo appearances of former Super Sentai members who initially are not ok with the new Super Sentai being Pirates and having their old powers. After they are around them long enough they realize that the pirates are actually genuine and trustworthy enough to hold on to their powers so that the crew can reach their goal. As they progressed towards their goal they ran into a sixth ranger and one of my favorite characters from the show. The sixth ranger is a super sentai fanboy who gains his powers risking his life to save someone. His knowledge of Super Sentai history becomes useful to the pirates and he eventually joins their cause and aids the crew to their ultimate goal. What makes him my favorite character beside him being a fanboy of super sentai is how his presence helps the crew gain further insight into humanity as well as his growth in understanding what it is to be a hero. There are several key points in the series in which he learns that not only is it the powers that make the hero but the will to fight and make a difference. Now that I have the summary out the way this season was so amazing. I mean it was the ultimate fan service season that provided a history into super sentai and it didn't use the formula that the good guys always win in the half hour slot. There are a few episodes that start in the middle of zord fights which helps add depth to the show and helps the viewer understand that there is more to their fight than what is shown in the time slot of their show. There are also episodes in which they lose showing their tenacity to fight to accomplish their dreams. There are also very well implemented subplots. So why have I spent this entire blog giving a synopsis of the two super sentai seasons I watched? Honestly because I felt like it. It's not directly related to my work but I am in a stage of rebuilding on many aspects. The series amazed me, enthralled me and inspired me. It avoided being super campy as opposed to the adaptation for audiences outside of Japan. (It was still campy but what can you expect from spandex and motorsycle helmets?) Gokaiger ended in 2012 and I still get hyped when I hear the theme song. So as an artist all I have to say is go out there, find your inspiration and follow your dreams.

Developing Series

I haven't really talked that much about my work lately. The original intention of this blog was to add supplementary information about my paintings and other work, but that concept led to me not being as consistent with this blog. Sometimes so many ideas float around and never come to fruition because negative thoughts beat out certain ideas to make the thinker perceive the thought as a bad idea. Also when it comes to me this year started out on a good note but things went from good to bad to worse in a short period of time. My posts on this blog were a reflection on that and was a way to get ideas out of my head. In the long run it's a good thing because it allowed me to keep my blog up to date. It's March and I am almost tied with the amount of posts I made here in 2012 and 2011. It's good to have the ability to transfer energy into something productive.

This particular post is about a series I unintentionally developed. It can be perceived in my art that I tend to draw or paint caricatures of myself often. It's actually one of the things I'm asked when I show a particular sketch to someone. Usually when I do character studies I tend to want  to base them off of someone, even if I never intend on painting that subject. If I like how a study comes out, I tend to plan to put it on canvas. Since I almost never have another person as a character study, I utilize myself. Over the past few years I have completed three paintings on wood using the profile view and the colors black, yellow and orange. The last piece of this series was completed New Years day and is the first painting in the series. After I developed this I was able to chronologically order and the order in which they were created are actually opposite of the order of the paintings.



The above picture is the most recent and it illustrates this subject moving away from his source of being. The ties are being broken and it seems that he is searching for something and not looking back to his source of being at the moment. In the chronology of these pieces it was developed last but comes first since the subject seems to be severing ties with something similar to itself.



The next piece depicts the same subject shedding a large tear, going into a head and face that is not together for lack of a better word coming out of the bottom. This particular piece was created in the middle and subsequently takes place in between the first and the third painting.It represents loneliness and the distorted face represents the abandoned idea that the subject will find what he is looking for.



The last piece was the first one painted and shows the subject surrounded by darkness looking up at the only other thing similar to himself if the sky. He is away from his source of being and enraged because he feels abandoned and alone.

Earlier this year I did revisions to my artist statement and through my research I learned that orange is a color that can be used to represent spirituality. This was not something I knew through my initial development of these paintings. By no means is this particular series complete as I see the subject going through more trials and hopefully he will find what he is searching for.