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Sunday, June 15, 2008

Chained

I'm sure this drawing will elicit some interesting interpretations, so have at it.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honestly... an orgy :|

Jena Isle said...

Yes, That was my first impression too - an orgy..several legs entangled with one another...Chained to one another

Mark said...

You can't beat an orgy. I mean: I can't beat orgy as an answer. I'm sure I saw that position in a set of playing cards I had.

Catherine @ Sharp Words said...

An awful lot of your drawings have a very visceral effect on me - in that they make me think of coiled intestines! - and this one is no exception. :)

Actually, it looked like a piece of modern dance, with the dancers all entwined, arms and legs. (And then once I saw the orgy interpretation, I thought that too.)

fihanna said...

1 - United we are stronger!
2 - two male courting one woman/tris/
3 - the dance of survivors
4 - life imprisonment for one straight
5, 6, ......flsmcg

Fran said...

they make exercices together... Francis they have all naughty ideas ;) just kidding !!!!

Fiendish said...

I agree with Catherine about the visceral impact of your work. I remember being a Francis Bacon exhibition: in the blank room surrounded by huge warped canvases, I actually began to feel physically sick. Not that this is sickening, but it's similar in the sense that the effect is almost physical.

I thought orgy as well. But the twisted bodies and faces were very strange.

Ken Armstrong said...

I would call it:

"Never mind the view, it's just nice to hold somebody"

Anonymous said...

IS everyone's minds in the gutter these days? LOL (just kidding). I see this more of a piece screaming out "trapped". Again, excellent work Francis!
~JD
Check out the MW site...we are growing. Let's see a piece in there.
~JD

crpitt said...

Is it a rather strange version of the conga dance?

(Orgy was my first thought)

:)

Anonymous said...

I thought the orgy thing right off

SUSAN SONNEN said...

At first I saw intestines. Then I saw people interlocked with each other. That brought to mind the idea that we are all a part of each other. What happens to one affects us all in some way.
Or on a more negative note, it could represent a lack of freedom and individuality.

fihanna said...

I could give reason to Susan...
"lack of freedom and individuality"
They aren't thinking and they aren't producing.
A chain of copy-paste!

Francis Scudellari said...

@Gary Once I finished it, I realized that would be the most likely interpretation. It literally started out as just a chain, but strange things happen when you start adding detail to abstract shapes.

@Jena Chained figures was pretty much what I was going for, but as they are grasping each other in contorted ways, "orgy" makes a lot of sense too.

@Mark Maybe I could do 52 variations of this and sell them as a deck of cards.

@Catherine That the drawings have a visceral affect is a good thing, as they do the same for me as I'm drawing them. I like the modern dance image much better than the orgy.

@Hanna I like "the dance of survivors" best. That could work on a few different levels.

@Fran I agree with you ... I do have a naughty minded audience, which I'm sure says something about me as well :).

@Fiendish I like the comparison to Francis Bacon. I tried to make the figures reminiscent of human bodies, but something a bit more fluid. I'm actually not that fond of the first head (top left), but I like how the other two came out.

@Ken Now that's the kind of positive spin I appreciate :)

@JD Yes, everyone's is (including my own, most likely). I've seen the new writers at MWS and the site looks great. I'll contribute a post or two this week.

@Claire I think this conga dance has gone a bit astray.

@Confused You're in good company with that interpretation.

@Susan I'm much more partial to the positive view. When looked at as inter-connectedness, being chained together is a good thing.

@Hanna I'd agree they aren't thinking, but as I'm not sure how such creatures would produce, I can't rule out that they are.

Book Calendar said...

It looks like one of those two person cartwheel exercises, but with a third person added in.

fihanna said...

Per forza!
have their hands and heads cut off, no?
if they are chained, something it comes out...
la società moderna
;)

Ken Armstrong said...

You referred to my previous comment as 'positive spin'...

Not a bad title for the peice actually

:)

Anonymous said...

Hey, this is PlotDog, first of all thanks for your kind words on the WOOF contest on plotdogpress.

More importantly, I looked at this for a bit, read comments, and thought. Maybe it is what I do for my form of art, but it really looks like how my head sees a plot.

I can't think of a better term for what I see except to say that it is real ART.

Ruthie said...

They look like limbs. But I didn't think "orgy" until I read the first comment.

Francis Scudellari said...

@BC I'm not sure I've seen those exercises, but there's a tumbling act that performs at Chicago area sports events that might do something similar.

@Hanna I think there is some metaphor here for modern society.

@Ken Yes, maybe I should rename it :).

@PlotDog Thanks! There is definitely a link between the writing process and how I create these drawings.

@Ruthie Good to see you again. Yes, the dirty minded tend to drag us all into the gutter with them :).