Monterey Peninsula Art Forum
Edward M. Corpus
As Above, So Below 20x24 inch acrylic painting
My name is Edward M Corpus. I’m a surrealist figurative artist and writer currently based in Carmel Valley. I use traditional oil, acrylic and graphic techniques mixed with collage and other materials to create culturally subversive art - disquieting or whimsical visual allegories, metaphors and mythological references that express my visceral impressions of the crises of normalized social inequality. I aim to subvert the dreadfully normal in contemporary culture through my art, to challenge viewers’ assumptions of what is real. If you witness that social dysfunction has become the norm, do you still want to be considered “normal”?
California has been my home for fifty years. As a teen I attended the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts - the New York City public school that was the basis of the 1980 film Fame. I received a graphic arts degree with an emphasis in digital animation from California State University at Monterey Bay. I’m grateful to be a member of the Monterey Peninsula Art Foundation and Central Coast Writers branch of the California Writers Club.
The artists and writers of early Dada and Surrealism developed these cultural movements in the early Twentieth Century in reaction to the horrors of war. They sought to inspire viewers to explore the hidden truths of the subconscious mind, and further to reject capitalist notions of normality. I acknowledge them as major influences in both my visual style and personal views, especially important today as large sectors of the population embrace inequality as normal.
My work aims to go beyond the creation of merely fantastical imagery to revive the concept of storytelling through image making. My works draw on the imagery of mythical archetypes, dreams, altered states and my own personal life. As an Asian immigrant male with nearly seven decades in the American experience, my life passages span the emotional and physical range from traumatic to the beautiful.
While shocking images may initially compel attention, I intend the stories I embed in my art to prompt recall of stories in their own lives. These in turn may evoke awareness and compassion of the life experiences common to us all - traumas and transcendence, failures and redemptions, losses and recoveries.
The poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller stated that artists can subvert the banality of social culture through its entertainment. Perhaps, my paintings and drawings might even entertain you, even as they subvert your sense of normality.
[email protected]
Website: https://edwardmcorpus.art
Instagram: @edwardmcorpus_fineart
California has been my home for fifty years. As a teen I attended the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts - the New York City public school that was the basis of the 1980 film Fame. I received a graphic arts degree with an emphasis in digital animation from California State University at Monterey Bay. I’m grateful to be a member of the Monterey Peninsula Art Foundation and Central Coast Writers branch of the California Writers Club.
The artists and writers of early Dada and Surrealism developed these cultural movements in the early Twentieth Century in reaction to the horrors of war. They sought to inspire viewers to explore the hidden truths of the subconscious mind, and further to reject capitalist notions of normality. I acknowledge them as major influences in both my visual style and personal views, especially important today as large sectors of the population embrace inequality as normal.
My work aims to go beyond the creation of merely fantastical imagery to revive the concept of storytelling through image making. My works draw on the imagery of mythical archetypes, dreams, altered states and my own personal life. As an Asian immigrant male with nearly seven decades in the American experience, my life passages span the emotional and physical range from traumatic to the beautiful.
While shocking images may initially compel attention, I intend the stories I embed in my art to prompt recall of stories in their own lives. These in turn may evoke awareness and compassion of the life experiences common to us all - traumas and transcendence, failures and redemptions, losses and recoveries.
The poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller stated that artists can subvert the banality of social culture through its entertainment. Perhaps, my paintings and drawings might even entertain you, even as they subvert your sense of normality.
[email protected]
Website: https://edwardmcorpus.art
Instagram: @edwardmcorpus_fineart
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