blakeArt® Digital Prints, Oils, Watercolors, Pen & Ink
Realize Oxygen Phi Ratio 2011
Realize Oxygen popped into my head one day when I was contemplating the molecular structure of the element Oxygen, for some reason. It was like I realized a universal truth... that oxygen is not something that we humans, animals, any living creature, can use or survive on unless the atoms are together in pairs, or O2. Only when it is like that, which I believe is its natural state, can we exist in this physical realm. • So what this piece says to me is what this O2, this oxygen, represents - the physical representation of our love for one another - we kneed to have each other to love to breathe, to live - this is the essential element to our existence in this realm. • Only when we realize the true nature of ourselves and for what purpose we are trapped here for will we have gain access to what is actually Real-eyes... and be able to see the doors of perceptions cleansed.
‘RITUAL for the new age {(yet another layer of spiritual bureaucracy)}Preamble to the Our Father’ Digital Piece — Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator2006 Phi Ratio
Ritual for the New Age - A poop prayer that Ritualizes symbolically ridding our bodies of Waste. This can be utilized as a Pivot Point for Humanity - an attempt to establish a new bureaucracy on top of any and all organized religions, athiests and agnostics alike, this new Ritual follows Jesus’s words almost exactly in modern language, and takes the lead from what he said right before the famous passage in Matthew Book 6 versus 5-9, right before the Lords Prayer:
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name...
‘Overanalysis Paralysis Expo Facto’ Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop2003 3 / 4 Ratio
This piece is the Genesis of this whole Structure of Thought™ business. I was contemplating Why the Red Sox and Cubs both lost their respective Championship series in 2003 in the seventh game... there had to be a part of the Omniverse™ where this exists, and I manifested this in two-dimensional format.
‘Direct Correlation’ Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop 2004 3 / 4 Ratio
This was in reaction to the Pat Tillman Killing and the Honor of his service, and the equal and opposite reaction of the Abu Ghraib pictures. • ‘All acts, thoughts, choices and deeds can be charted and graphed along the lines of Dimensional Thought Structure™ and examined in regards to the polarity of their value on a rotating XYZ axis, with the constant being good and evil , making the judgement of the act itself easier to
examine in regards to RIGHT & WRONG
‘World History Festival’ Digital Piece — Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator2008 Phi Ratio
World History Festival® is an Idea I had that relates to the establishment of a new economy and in a bigger sense a new Reality. • Think The Olympics meets High School curriculum. Subsidized at first by giant corporations who need tax deductions, the festival will last from Summer Solstice 2011 to Summer Solstice 2012. • Every month is a new event or reenactment using the latest technology, students, media coverage, debates, tourism, etc. etc, generating revenue and establishing not only a whole new economy worldwide, but generating positive Thought Structure™ for all humanity. Everyone participates.
‘Journey to my Ancient Lesson’ Double Triptych — Oil on 6 Canvases 2009 3x3, 4x4, 5x7 11x14, 14x17, 18x24”
Needless to say this is a dark work, but it was truly hopeful and liberating for me to paint. Basically what this Shamanistic experience taught me was to not be a hypocrite. We are all born with certain traits — and I guess I had been a hypocrite at some point in my previous existence. • So this should be a warning to all those who are presently acting in such a manner - let me tell you, hanging from you skull for an eternity is not an idea of fun.
‘King of Procrastination’ Oil on CanvasAugust 6, 1999 - April 10, 2011 36x48”
King of Procrastination was started @ 10 am the day of my first art show on August 6th, 1999. That is and of itself should tell you about the way I work and my pain in the ass style and brain. • As a professional in Advertising, I have abandoned this mindset… however, there are times when I suffer from procrastination to the nth degree… and when this happens, as evident in the painting, I end up “Screwing Myself”. That is the jist of this self portrait, in a knutshell.
‘The Consequences of Mania’ Oil on Canvas 2011 40x30”
When someone is Manic, they are very hard to take seriously and stomach, because IMO they are tapped into a higher plane of understanding and cannot resist trying to explain it to anyone who will listen. Speaking from experience, the information is so strong that you get from the creative source that it is like a fire hose. I love the feeling of Mania, I remember it fondly, I believe it is some sort of open Pineal Gland enlightenment. The main challenge is to keep the nozzle of information adjusted so that you don’t soak those around you with annoyance, especially those you love.
‘On the Cusp of Balance’Digital Piece — Adobe Photoshop & Illustrator2006 Phi Ratio
I want to relate to you a piece that is now 5 years old, born from a dream I had Saturday morning, September 23, 2006 - within the past 2 weeks of my typing this. I have always been open minded and prayed for wisdom, but in this very lucid dream All of a sudden I found myself in this room that was like a small banquet hall, filled with Arab men wearing dazzling white robes: with these intricate, woven beautiful patterns and it seems to me that they are all wearing the same garment - as in, many heads, one cloth... • So then this "king fahd" type guy is right in front of me, but he's half king fahd, half... frank zappa type guy... and in front of him is a white wicker bassinet... and he spreads his hands in front of me, presenting the bassinet. to me, as I observe, and I look inside, and I see a hand-woven quilt... and it's in the shape of the star of David, and in the corners of the points of the star, and there's these fisher price ‘playskool’ wooden people... 6 different races and colors, etc... • THEN… as I stare at this, the Star of David becomes this chinese checker game.... with marbles in place and then the center of the Star of David / game becomes this infinite tube of millions of marbles, a la Salvador Dali's "the hallucinatory troubadour" and I fall into this tube... and then I woke up...!
‘Tiunneto’ Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop2004 2 x 48” Square Output
This is a riddle - try to figure it out. In the Arch around the piece, it’s the old adage ‘Those who do not heed the lessons of History are doomed to repeat them.’
‘The Consequences of Corporate Culture’ Oil on Canvas 2004 36” Square
This is an apocalyptic reaction against the Oligarchs, their hideous ‘leadership’ and their total lack of empathy for mankind, the Earth and Reality itself. • I was in the middle of painting the three islands with the soon to be drowned survivors in the spring of 2004, and one night I dreamt I was walking along the beach, I looked off shore and I saw a Noah’s Ark way off shore, on a giant platform up in the air. Needless to say the boat won’t be lifted off the platform until the water is well above the three remaining peaks.
‘we are ONE in the SAME’Oil on Canvas 2011 40x30”
This is a dream I had in Summer 2009 while on vacation in Napa. We were there for a wedding and this was the night of the Rehersal dinner, I only mention this because I had another very impactful dream the same night. I was in an Mayan Ballcourt confronted by a Legion of Ancient Warriors all wearing Warrior Masks and branishing Weapons. • Two Warriors jumped up in the air and flew into each other’s mouths, out the back of each other’s heads, forming andOmega in the Sky... all the while every screaming warrior then turned in unison, looked at me and shouted ‘we are ONE in the SAME..!’
Then I snapped awake... I had ‘Delusions of Grandeaux’ later that night - that is the next canvas I am going to tackle. Then I woke up.
‘the Surrender of Evil for the Time Being’ no2 Oil on Canvas 2011 24x30”
This is an Original Concept pulled from the Structure of Thought™ that, because it is now physically manifested, itself in a way that Humans can now understand. The ‘Time Being’ concept is a double entendre, which is the subject of the painting.
‘Take’Oil on Canvas work in progress 2019 36” Square
This work takes on the Myth of the ‘Patriarchal Society’ and the persistence that someone else is to blame for all your bad choices. • The Devil made me do it. Women themselves are to blame for Man’s weaknesses and lack of Self Control. Just look at what is going on in Politics today, in spring 2020 - those in control blame everyone but themselves for their own manipulation and rigging of the world economy, to the ‘debit-trament’ of the masses. • I call bullshit. The Omniverse™ is electric and infinite - the Karma will always come around, and you will eventually atone for your bad behavior. Believe me - if you don’t, see ‘Journey to my Ancient Lesson.’
‘People’( a homage to Hopper ) Oil on Canvas2009-10 48x60”
People was born out of a shopping trip I took in 2009 in Wicker Park with my roommate at the time. We were walking along Milwaukee Avenue and I happened to look across the street and saw a woman in a white robe, fresh out of the shower with a towel on her head, gazing out the window smoking a cigarette, supporting the weight of the world in her expression. Now the Art Institute had just wrapped up a Edward Hopper exhibit, and this vision in front of me was seared into my brain immediately as not only an homage to Hopper, but a modern snapshot of the human condition. Later, when I went back to scout the location in more detail to arrange this composition, did I learn that the restaurant on the first floor was actually called “People” – and therein lies the title of this piece, my technically best painting to date.
‘Wacker & Wells’Oil on Canvas2008 36x48”
Wacker and Wells is the first of a series of as many as twelve Chicago scenes I plan to paint. I finished it in May of l2008 and was a commission by a close friend who lets me borrow the original to show off every once in a while. • I'd like to add some more to it when I get the chance, but I had to let it go - I was reworking it to death and kind of got into a rut about it.
‘Piccadilly Dream’Oil on Canvas 2001 36x48"
Piccadilly Dream is based on an actual dream I had when I was in college, and I "gave birth" to it in physical form when a very close high school friend wanted me to do a painting for him. In the dream, I am gliding down an escalator that doesn't exist in Piccadilly Square. The great thing about the dream is that is wasn't night or day... it was lit from within, and I tried hard to capture that feel, especially in the sky. • The prints really do not do the original justice... I am very proud of the idea behind and my execution of this painting. My friend and I are in the foreground... and we notice this billboard way up top the grand neon Facade, the trademark of Piccadilly. Suddenly this billboard visually shouted out the message of the infinite, of total understanding of all that is, the knowing of the unknowable, the description of the indescribable. In the dream I remember the message as plain as day, with complete comprehention. As I travel down the escalator watching this all-knowing billboard, I realize that there is a moving sidewalk in front of it with people being transported at even intervals, very similar to the escalator I seem to be traveling down. My waking self failed miserably to remember the billboard's message I saw with such clarity within the spiritual realm... so what is on the billboard is my feeble representation of it... but it's close I guess.
‘Tribune Building’ Watercolor2010 30 x40” Commission Piece
The Tribune Building with its gothic architecture and incredible beauty was a very formitable commission to take on , especially in watercolor because it is so unforgiving and you have to think about every brushstroke. • I am pleased about how this came out, however - I won’t lie, this was quite the challenge. I’d do some things differently next time around, but all in all I thing this was a great project, especially for such a large watercolor work.
‘Abbey Graveyard in the Snow’
Copy of the Masterpiece by Caspar David Friedrich - Acrylic on Art Board 18x24" 1987. Original painted in 1810, alternative title Monastery Graveyard in the Snow. I think the original size is closer to 48x60"
‘Dawn in Leonardville’ 2010 Commissioned Piece Oil on 6 24” Square Canvases, Completed in less than 90 days
Read about the painting of this commission here.
‘Positive Altitude’ Watercolor, Pen & Ink 2010 28x36”
A Friend and Client comissioned this piece to cheer on his Brother who was diagnosed with head and neck cancer at 42 years old. This was framed and went with him everywhere to remind him of his looming triumph over this incredible adversity. He is now in remission and back on the road to good health and a normal life.
‘Self-Portrait as Rembrandt’ Acrylic on Canvas1988 14x17”
This is the first finished Self-Portrait I ever did, back in 1988. When I was younger and much more ‘green’, I used to think that every single piece of art I produced ‘...had to be a Rembrandt!’ Needless to say, this crippled my creativity with fear. I think you can see it in my eyes here. • Now that I’m oh so much older and wiser, I still think that thought. But that and all the other negative Thought Structures™ exist yes, but they’re like the characters in John Forbes Nash, Jr. story ‘A Beautiful Mind’ - always there, but you learn to live with it and keep things in perspective.
‘Future Destinations’ 2012 Pen & Ink Drawings 6 Drawings 6x9”
‘Crayola Beatles’ Signed ‘Matt Blake Aged 10’crayon on constructionpaper197620x36”
not for sale - would take a big price for me to sell it.
‘Delusions of Grandeuax’ Digital, in progress 2021 72x48”
I had this dream the exact same night I had the ‘We Are ONE in the SAME’ dream out in California. This is the digital Concept of what I want to be an Oil Painting. It’s Kennedy in his assassination limo reaching out to shake hands with an adoring public - as you back out the enthusiastic people slowly turn to stone. This is totally deep - along the ‘Line of Thought’ of A River Runs Thru It.
‘2005—Freedomfrom Want’ Digital CollageMay 2005 Phi ratio
This is a companion piece to ‘Exit Strategy’, which I started as a protest anti-war piece. When I heard about the Quote from Barbara Bush regarding how the flooding of New Orleans was great for all the displaced ‘black’ people, because they were ‘just poor already’, it infuriated me to no end. I imagined someone lacking that much empathy for their fellow man to either be blatantly ignorant or just downright evil. • So I put together this visual display of how I thought they should be reacting if they had even the minuscule shred of decency and compassion. Preachy, yes — but someone needs to say something to these people whose lack of soul in the highest echelons of power is disturbing to say the least.
‘2006—ExitStrategy’ Digital CollageMay 2005 Phi ratio
I started Exit Strategy when I had the idea of using Norman Rockwell’s ‘Freedom from Want’ as a platform for my belief at the time that this war had some merit and we were actually there to help the Iraqi people. Of course I was skeptical of the war in general, but I only suspected the Leaders and Politicians, not the Troops. Hence the Halo around the head of the soldier serving the Horn of Plenty to the table of Iraqi victims—she and all of her respective comrades in arms were and are sadly, to this day, also victims to our high jacked foreign policy by the chicken hawk Neo Conservatives, who we know now lied us into this war for profit and nefarious intent. This piece and its ‘yang’ companion, ‘Freedom from Want’ are as shocking and relevant today as they were 15 years ago.
‘Welcome to the Ranch’ 2011 Commissioned Piece Oil on Canvas • 22x28” Completed in less than 90 days Start to Finish
Mt. Rainier Sunrise 2022 Commissioned Piece Oil on Canvas • 20x60” Completed in less than 90 days Start to Finish
A Paetron and great pal wanted a specific size and shape of composition for her vacation home... after a few back and forths was able to pull off this challenging painting. After it dried it was taken off the Stretchers and shipped to the client, who restretched it and hung it herself.