Monterey Peninsula Art Foundation
Edward M. Corpus
Young Ernest Hemingway in Italy -- 5 x 7 watercolor painting
I’m a culturally subversive independent visual artist and writer creating humanist, socially aware art reflecting values of social justice and inclusion. I invite you to view a range of my work at emcanimator.com, sign up for a newsletter that may inform you and read a blog that may outrage you or spur you to action. I use traditional and digital media, and have added comic sequential art to my repertoire.
The experiences of being an Asian-American male, born eight years after the end of World War II, participating in and surviving the excesses of six decades in America lends a uniquity to my world outlook and its creative expression.
Since the age of three years I’ve been conscious that I was at my core an artist, even though I’ve worn many “hats” in life. Adversity could have robbed me of that passion, had it not been for the intervention of efficient witnesses -- advocates for my creative humanity. Through art, writing, volunteering and quiet activism, I aim to be an efficient witness myself for the creative aspect of all humanity.
Some of my images are horrendous, some beautiful — visual metaphors of trauma and transcendence, failure and redemption, loss and recovery. My subject matter draws from a unique perception of human behavior, and my images range from the grotesque to the beautiful to the ridiculous. (Often life is not a laughing matter; sometimes love and laughter is the best and only answers.) Art is an invitation for others to look at reality through the same window from which the artist looks.
I create art and I write about creating art. The creative process is the birthright of all. I write about the patriarchal dominance culture that kills the creative process, and what I think we should do about it.
The experiences of being an Asian-American male, born eight years after the end of World War II, participating in and surviving the excesses of six decades in America lends a uniquity to my world outlook and its creative expression.
Since the age of three years I’ve been conscious that I was at my core an artist, even though I’ve worn many “hats” in life. Adversity could have robbed me of that passion, had it not been for the intervention of efficient witnesses -- advocates for my creative humanity. Through art, writing, volunteering and quiet activism, I aim to be an efficient witness myself for the creative aspect of all humanity.
Some of my images are horrendous, some beautiful — visual metaphors of trauma and transcendence, failure and redemption, loss and recovery. My subject matter draws from a unique perception of human behavior, and my images range from the grotesque to the beautiful to the ridiculous. (Often life is not a laughing matter; sometimes love and laughter is the best and only answers.) Art is an invitation for others to look at reality through the same window from which the artist looks.
I create art and I write about creating art. The creative process is the birthright of all. I write about the patriarchal dominance culture that kills the creative process, and what I think we should do about it.
Portrait of Konrad Heiden – 20 x 16 pastel painting
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Die Neue Sturmabteilung (The New Stormtroopers) -- 12 x 9 ink and watercolor
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Popular culture is too often driven by the corporate bottom line. As such it alienates us from true intimacy with our living environment and each other, divides us by ethnicity, gender, age and economic status. In these troubled times, is it possible to make art that compels social conscience without being preachy or didactic? That moves emotions without manipulation? Informs without being propagandistic? Maybe. I’ll give it a shot.
I desire to make art that outrages, motivates or inspires; art that evokes hilarity or sadness and compels the viewer to see the universe in which we dwell in ways not otherwise seen. The poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller asserted that you subvert social culture through its entertainment. Perhaps, I can even entertain you as I subvert your common beliefs and seduce you into joining me.
The game is rigged, and it stays rigged through popular culture. I aim to use art and writing to beat that game. I won’t always get it right, but I’m learning.
I desire to make art that outrages, motivates or inspires; art that evokes hilarity or sadness and compels the viewer to see the universe in which we dwell in ways not otherwise seen. The poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller asserted that you subvert social culture through its entertainment. Perhaps, I can even entertain you as I subvert your common beliefs and seduce you into joining me.
The game is rigged, and it stays rigged through popular culture. I aim to use art and writing to beat that game. I won’t always get it right, but I’m learning.
Pretty In Pink, 16 x 20 inches, Pastel
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Riding the Broom On Fourth Street – 24 x 30 acrylic painting
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Phyllis Coates and the Origin of My Fetish – 24 x 30 acrylic painting
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I desire to make art that outrages, motivates or inspires; art that evokes hilarity or sadness and compels the viewer to see the universe in which we dwell in ways not otherwise seen. The poet and playwright Friedrich Schiller asserted that you subvert social culture through its entertainment. Perhaps, I can even entertain you as I subvert your common beliefs and seduce you into joining me.
The game is rigged, and it stays rigged through popular culture. I aim to use art and writing to beat that game. I won’t always get it right, but I’m learning.
The game is rigged, and it stays rigged through popular culture. I aim to use art and writing to beat that game. I won’t always get it right, but I’m learning.