people still make good music Connan Mockasin

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new new underway

soooo time for a studio update.
wanted to make a post to sort of mark the start of a new painting project.

back on january 20th i was living in Germany and as i would do every now and then i woke up and check the news. on the 20th i saw that it was the 20 year anniversary of the 1994 north-ridge earthquake. i was 4 at the time of the quake and it proved to be quite the traumatic experience. from my father brother and i going to the earthquake museum in exposition park the day before to experiencing the quake, my first quake, that night and finally seeing the destruction throughout south central los angeles that morning after. needles to say i was messed up for a while... well after recognizing the anniversary i knew i had to work the even into my painting in some way so online research began. it wasn't long before i came across four photos that i knew i had to paint.

these four photos, taken by an unknown photographer, were somewhere in Los Angeles, moments after the quake. no windows, mashed geometry, visually straining, casual, and anonymous. there is no indication of location, time of day/night, race or even class of the individual who lived in these spaces. they are open images they could have been anyones media room, office, or storage room.

so 6 months later i find myself back home in Los Angeles sitting with these images on my computer and finally deciding its time to start the process. the photos came up on my computer as 5x7" so in the most simple way i choose to paint them on panels measuring 5x7'. the project began and here are some photos taken in my studio of where i am at now. 

                                      

i built all four panels over the course of a couple days with the help from a friend

built, drawn and ready to start painting