the art: surreal + symbolic

...MORE Surreal Artwork by
Chris Eisenbraun.

  • Symbolism Ink+ Series (2013): "One" (+ "Two", "Three.14159265)
  • Surreal pencil (2013): My World Is Round
  • Surreal ink sketch (2012): Soliloquy.
  • Surreal pencil drawing (2012): A Natural Pearl In My Careless Hand.
  • Surreal ink doodle (2012): "Tenuous Minor (A Flatted Third)."
  • Pencil art (2011): Just Passing Through.
  • Complex sketch (2010): Whisper To The Thunder
  • The Drawing Board Blog:
    "The Quality Of A Discord."

    DRAWING STARTED: Oct. 20, 2013.

    Artist précis.

    COMPLETED: Nov. 09, 2013.
    REVISITED: Sept. 14, 2014.

    This is a strange little piece of art with one BIG goal: to allow an artist to blow off some artistic steam. Venting was DEFinitely required at this point. I was standing at a critical juncture between id, ego and hubris ...and trouble was in the air. LOL. Honestly, I think this drawing became a bit overblown by the end of it all ...and I REALLY wish I'd kept it as simple as originally intended. BUT... that fact alone just SCREAMS that SOMETHING definitely needed an outlet. We'll call it "artistic steam" to be polite. Ha ha. Anyway. That's a BIG reason WHY this little pen and ink drawing is posted on the site. This is MOST DEFINITELY NOT my best drawing, nor my worst one... just almost the worst one. AND..., this website is all about the artistic journey... not just an excuse to display the BEST, prettiest and cleverest works of Art. Sooo, this is the story behind this little work of art. Now, onwards and talley ho baby. I've mentioned elsewhere that "My World Is Round" just blew me away. The communication between subconscious and hand seems to be improving. My goal of TRYING to author authentic tales told in the dream language of the collective unconscious really seems to be turning a corner with the last couple of works of art. Yeah! And woohoo too. BUT.., that is EXACTLY when care is required... to avoid the white noise of pride. I don't mind being CONFIDENT in what I can DO... BUT, confidence and pride are two different thangs. BIGtime. AND, I am trying to walk a strange and crazy tightrope deep into the collective unconscious. You get the picture. I REALLY needed to blow off some steam in order to clear the air and gain a reasonable momentum for the next work of art (NOT the kind of drive that sends you hurtling over a precipe at 1,000 mph). LOL. Ok. The truth is, ....upon reflection... that this little semi-surreal pen and ink.... does seem to BE a kind of portrait of The Moment That I Was Lost In...

     

  • Artist blog: the drawing starts here...

    (Oct. 20, 2013) Posted Jan. 13, 2014

    Trying really hard to remember what happened....

    Ok. Honestly.... this is all a recreation. I have ACTUALLY begun the NEXT work of art. I am NEVER bored. Jeez. LOTS to do. BIGtime. But, you don't want to hear about that. Anyone actually reading THIS wants to hear about the ART. Soooo...., ....back to talking about this little pen and ink drawing. The art blog and notes are going to be brief. I'll TRY to remember the what, when and wherefore. Ok? I know. It's weird. I tend to be a tad wordy occasionally. Sometimes. Never. Always. LOL. NEXT >>

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  • (Oct. 20, 2013) Posted Jan. 13, 2014

    Decision time: what's next?

     

    I had JUST finished the pen and ink threesome ("One", "Two" & "Three.14159265) that was divided into two five-by-fives for charity and one much bigger drawing for me. Those drawings were ALSO... all about blowing off artistic steam. But I've said ENOUGH about that. BIGtime. LOL. At this point, I was debating on starting the next work of art or doing just one more steam-blower-offer sort of drawing. I was sitting at my big art table with a piece of blank paper in front of me. I picked up a pencil and just began idly running the pencil round and round and round and... while trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. My hand was scribbling in absentia. Pencil sounded real appealing about then. And, I was REALLY ready to do a REAL DRAWING... but....I wasn't sure that I was really ready. Right about then, I looked down and thought ... "Wow. This is kind of cool." Decision made.

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  • (Oct. 27, 2013) Posted Jan. 13, 2014

    Led astray by the dot. Getting down with the dotty. Etc.

     

    Initially this drawing was all about some wonderful Art Nouveau sort of lines. Unfortunately, I got carried away and the pointillism got out of control. I had JUST seen an exhibition of Ansel Adam's photos at the Tampa Museum of Fine Art... and that inspired this bout of dottiness... One of the photos had snow/ice balls in a fissure, etc. etc. and I got INSPIRED! Sheesh. THAT IS EXACTLY WHY I WAS NOT STARTING A NEW, MORE SERIOUS SURREAL DRAWING.... I could feel this craziness looming close by. Ready to jump out and scream, "BOOO!BOOO!BOOO!BOOO!" Ugh. Hubris. The white noise of pride. Whatever you want to call it. Not good. BUT... I'd much rather get this artistic head of steam out of my system with a little pen and ink drawing instead of wasting an entire YEAR on a more serious work of art. Jeez I'd be pissed. The words I'd say. Not repeatable in polite society. LOL. Anyway. We'll see. Hubris can pop up at any given moment. It's a bitch. All you can do is try.

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  • (Nov. 03, 2013) Posted Jan. 13, 2014

    Panic began to set it somewhere around here....

     

    Don't get me wrong. This drawing is full of excellent lines.... I just think they are kind of lost amongst the multitude of dots. That being said, there are still nice things going on in here and I enjoyed working on this drawing. I am also going to go back and re-work this concept at some point. I really like these lines. Damnit. I just got a tad carried away by the dots. Over confident. Id. Ego. Hubris. Ugh. I realized this right around the time I took this photo of the drawing. I started to panic... but I wasn't going to stop here. I wanted to see if I could save the drawing. Of course. That's when the person in the bubble came into being. The penciled person caught in a pen and ink world. Ironic eh? Hmmmm... think my subconscious is trying to say something???? Ha.

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  • (Nov. 09, 2013) Posted Jan. 13, 2014

    Add more of whatever you have too much of.

     

    Of course, any time that you are worried that you might have added too many dots to the composition... the very first thing you should do is, obviously... add more. LOTS more. Right? In an effort to SAVE the drawing, more dots began to appear AND the outlines around the main lines became a whole lot thicker in an attempt to bring them forward and separate them from the background.... This drawing has DEFinitely lost the light airy feeling originally intended for it. Argh. Argh. And... let me just get this out of my system: AAAAAARGH!!! THAT being said... it's not a bad drawing....I just REALLY liked how it started out. LOL.

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  • (Nov. 10, 2013) Posted Jan. 13, 2014

    Done. NOW... it's pencil time baby.

     

    Ok. So this drawing isn't my normal forte. That's the whole point baby. Now... it's pencil time. Or close to pencil time. Since I'm in the future, I happen to know that there was a whole lot of music video production on the schedule and it got VERY close right before the artist retreat. Getting the artwork collage done in time began to be the real question. Would I be able to pull it off???? The NEED to draw a pencil drawing had been raised but the time to actually DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT... got a bit harried. It's documented as it happened on the facebook page. I got a tad behind on the website. Can you tell? Busy. Going crazy. Normal stuff. You know. Me panic? Naaaah. That NEVER happens. Hahahaha. Ha. Ha.

    P.S. (Sept. 12, 2014) I'm not sure how long this drawing will even remain framed. I was VERY disappointed with the outcome. So heavy handed. So ...thick. BUT... there was a LOT of steam channeled through this drawing.... I don't know. The STORY OF THIS WORK OF ART IS REAL... but I just don't like looking at it on the wall. It's annoying the hell out of me (and it's located IN MY STUDIO...so I SEE it all the time). Too funny. Anyway. It served a purpose. Good. Not everything is wonderful. We'll see. Maybe I can find a corner to throw it in. LOL.

    So. FOR NOW. There is still a link to the official gallery page. It may not be "up" forever, but it is for now. LOL.

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