Guess Who Built The Pyramids?

I'm a little confused as to what the particular symbols are in this work. (Are the pyramids also supposed to be jellyfish? What's that blue circle thing?) However I think I know what the underlying message is here:

Crystal Dolphin Joy Explosion!

This unabashedly dreamy cosmic crystal vision is the work of artist Bruce Harman. His bio states: "Spiritual studies and meditation opened his awareness to reincarnation and karma and became central to his artistic output. Visited by brilliant visions in moments of peace and quiet, his approach to painting is a sacred imperative."

It's interesting that both Hinduism and cosmological theory suggest that our known universe may be part of a cyclical occurrence. That we are tangled in the recurring dream of the supreme Brahman. Our universe is finite but unbounded, expanding and falling in on itself in a continuous cycle of death and rebirth.  All this is perhaps mirrored in our own consciousness through the process of reincarnation.

Perhaps this painting represents three stages of this "existence cycle." The nebula as the unformed matter of life, the unconscious mass, the potential. The crystals symbolize cosmic structures, the body, the Vessel: the perfect harmony of factors which must occur to allow for Life. The Dolphins are the manifestation of the consciousness through that vessel, and achieving finally the most perfect of all states: Joy.

But Is It Art? (With a Capital "A"?)

I'm going to muse on something here..... I think about Fantasy Art quite a bit. I ponder the way it is perceived by the Art World, and why it's usually regarded as low-brow, or even laughable.  It seems that a common and possibly defining quality of  FA is the presence of realistic elements within the work. Perhaps this is because in order for fantasy to be compelling it requires a model off of which to stray. A Rothko or Bauhaus-period Kandinsky wouldn't be categorized as FA. However is this a narrowminded viewpoint? Who's to say that a color field painting couldn't be representative of a fantastical world, where one is immersed in dense fogs of highly saturated color? So when we categorize certain works as "FA" are we are drawing boundaries on the realms of imagination? Seems rather oxymoronic. Perhaps because of the liabilities in the connotations of the term people keep a wide berth. But just what is fantasy? And isn't all art, after all, a window into a fantasy world and subjective reality? 

Narwhals Over The Rainbow

In this work, (Untitled, artist unknown) we have a pastiche of 1980's pop art elements.  The content and color palate is reminiscent of the work of Lisa Frank. Also present is a Modernist reverse integrity of the picture plane, an unabashed flatness of space. Juxtaposed with the high fantasy element of the content, it's a combination completely divested of realism.  Although appealing overall, I think the execution and medium of the work limits its beauty, and relegates it to a low brow or pop-art category. However if this were instead painted on a large canvass, I think I would react differently.

Stonehenge!

In ancient times...hundreds of years before the dawn of history... lived an ancient race of people: The Dolphins.

No one knows...who they were, or... what they were doing. But their legacy remains, hewn into the living rock...of Stonehenge.

You'll Be There When I Die, (whales in space) Tattoo....

Some intrepid art lover out there committed this to posterity on their arm. Does this tattoo signify that WIS has achieved an iconic/cult status?

Postmodern Dolphins

This triumph of WIS defamiliarizes the viewer with their preconceptions of "ocean" and "space." Juxtaposed with the joyousness of the dolphins, the cold void of this "sea-space" is a stark contrast which perhaps brings us to deconstruct the idea of "inward" versus "outward" realities, and the true source of our humanity.