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Denis-Peterson โ Weight of the Stone
Published: 2007-10-08 22:02:22 +0000 UTC; Views: 10181; Favourites: 115; Downloads: 225
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Description
Let's first get this out of the way:Title: Weight of the Stone
Medium: Acrylics on canvas
Process: Airbrush
Size: approx. 3 1/2 ' x 5'
I met Eugene the same day as Dolores and Neil in Cardboard Dreams [link]
We spent several hours together, discussing the tragic chain of events that have led him to where he is today. In short, he was run over by a truck after running into the street to avoid being detained by those who were chasing him. And it was all over a minor incident.
Since that time, he has been living on the street, having been effectively stripped of his assets due to an unfortunate series of unjust incidents that he is struggling to get right. I tried to help him the best I could, suggesting a number of avenues for recourse. He seemed deeply grateful, and I am certain that he was genuine.
It was quite a day, during which I would get up to stop people who were just walking by hoping not to catch his glance. They all walked back and gave him something, and appeared to feel good about doing it too.
I hope that this painting does him justice. Eugene has been dealt a very bad hand and is just hoping that someone will care enough to help him help himself. Everything in the painting represents his entire world.
Pigs on the wing
You know that I care
What happens to you
And I know that you care
For me too
So I
Don't feel alone
Or the weight of the stone
Now that I've found
Somewhere safe
To bury my bone
Any fool knows
A dog needs a home
A shelter
From pigs on the wing
-Pink Floyd
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Comments: 172
Thanks it was a tough composition to pull offย
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It's simply a powerful image you have created... I haven't looked through your DA account quite yet, but have you won any awards for your works? I mean, it seems impossible you haven't
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Thanks, content and composition can add up to some powerful imagery...there's some stuff here and there in the past, but I don't actively look for award oriented affairs...thank you again
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Amazing Denis just amazing!!!! we artists have the obligation to portray those that the status quo have excluded from the beauty of society.
Best, Rodrigo.
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Thanks very much Rodrigo, ineded art is the last refuge of hope as the rest of civilization collapses around us...
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you did an excellent job of capturing the saturated lighting condition that was most likely evident in the photo...and the smashed gum stain concrete adds to the dirty reality of a city sidewalk...well done painting(s)!
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thanks, Zach, I worked all the lightest colors in first, starting of course with white, which helped to make it appear more saturated.
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Hey there Denis --
Wow, this is GREAT to see you here on DA. Been a fan of yours for a while now and I'm so glad that you're able to share with us. This, and really many of your images are such poignant commentary on the world around us. I really wish they'd have the effect that they deserve and somehow right our teetering ship. On the one hand you say how you feel privileged to have been a part of this life for just one day, but anyone with serious eyes must certainly see how you indeed are a huge part of the greater stream of life for so much more than that. Thanks once again; great to see/ meet you.
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Thanks, these and my older genocide paintings were done to raise consciousness and appeal to the lack of gratitude that we all demonstrate from time to time. As visual interpretations of what we need to connect to, the work hopefully serves to reach out beyond superficial aesthetics and to create a lasting narrative. I appreciate your thoughts and the fact that you expressed them; glad to hear from you.
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Amazing what one can do to help others. I believe this man has been set on the right track, thanks to you Denis. Your works have inspired me to help others in need, as well as put my all into my pieces.
Fantastic painting, as always.
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That's really great that you are immersing yourself in your art as well as in the needs of others.
And thanks.
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wow like this blew me away i thought that you just took a picture i had no idea that you painted that you have alot of talent
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thanks, it was quite satisfying to pay this tribute to him and his dire situation. He was first class all the way...
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This breaks my heart. Thank you for doing all you could to help this guy. If everyone did that, I truly believe there would be no homeless people.
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That day was quite different from most, and I do think that if many did some small thing, it would make a phenomenal difference. It is unfortunate that our hardened society is creating classes of people as if they are undeserving of love.
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phew, I noticed his handicap , after having looked at the painting for 1, 2 minutes... very expressive and skillfully hidden behind the cup 
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well, thanks very much, I was waiting for someone to finally mention the placement of that cup!!
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Amazing and full of emotion! I love that!!!
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Well thanks, I really appreciate that!
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Thanks, having spent time with him made it easier than it would have been otherwise.
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We are all just one unfortunate string of events from being in the same place as Eugene.
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That is what really struck me when he told me his story...
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I love the hope in this picture - and it's a hope that you get without reading the story that comes with it. As always, this comes from the way you chose to paint. The subject is bathed in a bleaching white luminous light, in such a way that despite the fact the ground is marked and spotted with ground in gum, the subject looks by comparison spotless.
Hope also is brought to the image by the subjects' slight smile - I can see from this alone how you connected with Eugene during the time you spent with him.
I love the playful composition in this painting also. There is a slightly skewed symmetry running throughout (most notably the plastic beaker substituting the symmetrical balance of his amputated leg). I feel like this moving towards symbolism; a society which allows the disposable to take prominence over a man's body and ultimately the value of his life.
On a different note, I am drawn by the CD player (protected and) placed at the centre of this mans world. As an artist, I revere music above all else and since the title of this piece is taken from a lyric in a song, it places an importance on music to Eugene that is almost secretive, yet ultimately most significant. It's interesting to note that the lyric is ultimately about hope, which brings me neatly back to my initial observation.
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Using the concept of bathed light seemed to suggest a literal transformation in the narrative sense, while maintaining a contemporary aesthetic.
I have been reading The Power of Now by Tolle. Eugene is the power of now without a doubt. Eugene does epitomize hope; hope in a world of hopelessness and despair. Here he was on a hard unforgiving sidewalk, ironically leaning against locked steel store security gates, smiling at me with the full intention of giving the impression that he had control over his world, regardless of the past and accepting of the future.
There were a lot of choices to make as far as which shot to use, the bottle 'hiding' his leg became the clear winner early on, as it was ironically positioned as were the cd player and siamese sign.
These works are especially intriguing to me as well, as when I initially photograph them, unlike a professional photographer, I just take random unconscious shots. There are no props, no lighting, no suggestions to move this way or that, no special lens, or anything that might improve the composition as a photograph.
Thanks again for another profoundly interesting take on my work.
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Denis, I really appreciate your control of light and texture in this. I also enjoy your use of diagonals in this to increase the dynamism in the image. You handle both of your callings, art and awareness. very well.
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Thanks, it's really easy to get caught up in the literal and narrative aspects of visual commentary. Aware of that potential pitfall, I created lighting, shading and repetitive colors to emphasize the diagonals; which helped maintain the integrity of the subject as a self-sustaining person and the painting as a comprehensive, visually stimulating aesthetic.
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This is great! 
But why am i always noting it so late when you submit new masterpieces ? ;D. Also thanks for giving us the story behind the picture. Aaaand, someone asked if you would have an exhibition in germany one day, actually that would be awesome !
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This one has a lot of presence in the same room, especially with a few of the others around it. Even though I don't look at the others as most of them are stacked, it is pretty amazing how they look as if they were painted the same day! But they do have much more appeal close up, especially together, thanks.
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Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.
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You work is very real (not just in the "realistic" sense-) it's real in both ways, meaning, you are depicting the raw and harsh realities that some folks find themselves in ; places where most wouldn;t want to venture or make art about- those in poverty and destitute; it is eye opening and incredible the devotion it takes to make a painting like this, down to every last detail, finding beauty in places most dont want to look-
Art-speaking, how did you create the patterns in the jeans & textures so intricately? It would be neat to see these paintings up close.
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Thank you very much for your thoughtful comment.
The overriding consideration in all of my work is to present an aesthetic that not only creates an illusion of reality, but which does it by leaving an impression of beauty in otherwise repugnant human situations and depictions.
In this one, I used contes, pastels and color pencils to lay in dry pigmented color and texture prior to airbrushing acrylic inks and resinous paints. In this way, I already had my jean "patterns" and "wear" details already laid in and could blend them more easily.
I keep trying to take shots up close, and have all but given up on the terrible results.
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was this in NYC in the flatiron area? if so, i saw/walked by him on afternoon
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wow that's great to hear, if you see him again, tell him I said hello!!! (that day he was closer to penn station actually)
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its a small world after all
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did you see him before or after seeing this painting?
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oh, before. Oct 5th, a friday. i remember b/c it was Columbus Day weekend and i was buying a book by Jimmy Carter before he came to sign books in Barnes and Noble near where i live.
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how interesting, well he is someone certainly hard to forget!
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You have the most interesting encounters with people... but then you look for them, that is the amazing part 
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Thanks very much and I certainly hope so as well.
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By the way, the interesting thing is that I had walked up to an art store that I was looking for and while noting it wasn't yet open, randomly caught sight of Eugene directly across the street from it.
Interesting coincidence.
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So you were waiting for the art store to open and happened to see him? That is interesting...
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