For the second installment of the The Buddy System, I sent a simple line drawing to Ben C, Ben D, and Morit G and asked them to complete it. Each of them rightly took the assignment as an opportunity to explore their subconscious.
Here is the original drawing:
Ben C's drawing tells the tale of a young man who finds a mysterious book (printed backwards) about Portuguese witches, warlocks, and their terrible spells. It's highly likely that after reading this book, this young man will spend the rest of his life in jail or a mental institution.
Ben D depicted a floating lighthouse in the sky defending itself against a giant butterfly attack. He invites the viewer to grapple with questions of right and wrong. Are we to assume that the lighthouse is justified in deploying this level of firepower against the butterfly? Conversely, while butterflies have pretty wings, aren't they really just gross insects in disguise, no different than cockroaches or grasshoppers?
Morit G used colored charcoal to explore the relationship between a woman and her lizard-like dog. She captures a tenuous relationship between isolation and joy. Within a spare and quiet room there is an explosion of sensory input.
About the artists: Ben C, a past contributor to this blog, teaches kindergarten and grew up in South Dakota. He practices Bikram yoga. Ben D lives in New York and works as a writer and art critic. He was on the TV game show Cash Cab. Morit G lives in Los Angeles and studies ethnomusicology at UCLA. She is the author of the illustrated story, "Chimpy".
If you feel that these artists got it wrong, please download the original drawing and send in your interpretation.
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