#Thomas Blackshear

[retroscifiart]

Art from Elfspire by Thomas Blackshear

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Thomas Blackshear

[acmeoop]

Goliath Surveys His Domain (1994)

[bakedbananners]

Intimacy

[ID: art of Alex Fierro inspired by Thomas Blackshear's "Intimacy". He is standing, wearing a magenta robe covered in bright yellow shapes. Alex pulls apart the robe to show his chest, bright and glowing with light. In one hand he is holding a Tlatilco duality mask against the side of his face, covering one eye. On the same arm is a snake-like bangle. He is wearing a filigrana necklace with a milagro corazon attached, and a hoop earring with two long ribbons attached. His dark curly hair flows upwards. Behind him, to the left is a dark starry sky, with three floating pink masks hovering and looking down spitefully. To the right is are bright green small hills dotted with multicolored flowers. End ID.]

(more info in readmore!)

I decided to do a redraw inspired by Thomas Blackshear’s “Intimacy”. The original work shows a woman holding a mask while unveiling her body which is emitting a bright light. It is an interesting piece about how people wear masks to hide their true self, which is shown through the body.

I felt this work really fit Alex’s character, both through the overt symbols and the underlying themes. She is all about being a contradiction, dichotomy, and paradox.

I decided to alter some symbols, wanting to display her dual heritage of both Norse and Mexican descent and the spirituality associated with both. The mask she wears is a Tlatilco duality mask, she pears through the skull-like dead eye, conveying that she herself is dead yet alive. Her necklace has a corazon milagro on it, a strong symbol of Mexican spirituality and its combination of both Christian and Indigenous beliefs. It is meant to represent good luck and faith, with ties to Christ who is often shown with a fiery heart within his chest. In my reinterpretation, the bright light in her chest takes a new dimension of meaning- as she is literally her entire soul rather than human anymore.

The winding bracelet on her arm is of the Urnes snakes. It being on the same arm she holds up the mask connects the two accessories and their meanings physically. The masks that peer over her shoulder are meant to represent Norse masks, the way her mother Loki is always observing her. I altered some of the colors to be brighter neon pinks and greens because those are her trademark colors.

This redrawing is also meant to be inherently queer. The original shows a cisheteronormative portrayal of a feminine body. Here, though, Alex is transfeminine, displaying a transgender body. This also connects her genderqueer self with the divine and beautiful, as it also is in canon (through Magnus’ narration).

Ok, thank u for reading! :D this was very fun to do! I’m quite proud of it lol :3

[forpsalms]

Intimacy by Thomas Blackshear

[lilacsinthedooryard]

Thomas Blackshear  (b 1955 United States)

Dance of the Wind and Storm

Offset lithograph, 1996

[1five1two]

Thomas Blackshear.

[emptygalleryofhaunting]

Watchers in the Night, Thomas Blackshear

[balu8]

Thomas Blackshear

[chernobog13]

King Kong by Thomas Blackshear.

[retroscifiart]

Star Wars 10th Anniversary Commemorative Plate Art (1987) by Thomas Blackshear

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Thomas Blackshear, ‘Elfspire’, “Epic Illustrated”, Vol. 1, #1, 1980

[sandmandaddy69]

Thomas Blackshear

[surfingkaliyuga]

“Dance of the Wind and Storm” Thomas Blackshear II 1996 Painting used as the cover artwork for Imploding Mirage album by The Killers.

[vizuart]

Thomas Blackshear II (b. 1955), Intimacy

[artisamaptothejourney]

Thomas Blackshear