Dignity of Kings
16x20"
Ink on bristol board
Created for Glass Cinder & Thorns II at 323 Gallery.
Based on "Brother and Sister" from the Brothers Grimm
Here is a little background into the inspiration behind the drawing.
(You can also read this on my blog)
The show is inspired by the fairy tales that we all grew up on, and the darker versions that pre-dated the happy endings that Disney has been feeding us for years. Sounds perfect for me! It was a lot of fun working on the piece I made is inspired by Brother and Sister from Grimm's fairy tales. If you haven't read it, maybe you should, it's a really fantastic tale with a boy who drinks from a cursed stream and turns into a deer and then lives in the woods with his sister before the king comes along and blah, blah, blah (just go read it. it's only 3 pages long).
A little explanation is probably required here as in the original tale the boy neither dies, nor does his deer counterpart, and really there are no carcasses at all in the tale (unless we want to get to the evil characters but I didn't really touch on them in this). A great deal of folklore has common themes, quite a few explore a dynamic between male and female siblings where the female represents a rational side, and the male represents the more animal and instinctual side. Often the female assumes the role of rescuer for her brother and serves as the medium through which he is returned to his human, or more rational, form. In addition to this, though not taken specifically from Brother and sister, many of these male characters go on to become kings in their respective fantasies, thus taking their former animal-tendency driven histories with them, though wiser and in debt to their female siblings.I really don't want to bash anyone's head in with this but after reading the story if you feel like revisiting Dignity of Kings than you may enjoy it a little more. I'm a big fan of symbolism and this story in particular had so many opportunities to have fun with that I couldn't resist. Otherwise, simply enjoy Dignity of Kings for what it is.
