Artwork series: The ‘divine masculine’

*Currently available for sale*

‘Divine Masculine’

$555

24’x36’ acrylic, gold leaf, collage

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I’m excited to introduce you to yet another facet of this Revolutionary Renaissance Woman—The Artist. I have been an infinitely creative person most of my life, floating between artistic whims and instincts for as long as I can remember. Painting as a medium took hold of me early on, my passion for it blossoming in high school, and specifically capturing the human form in expressive figure paintings. My confidence in my artistic talents was fragile back then, however, and after experiencing rejection from my high school art teacher and a few other attempts at pursing creative paths more professionally, my passion for painting atrophied for more than a decade. This creative block slowly started to dissolve over time, and the dam finally broke in the beginning of 2021. In the midst of the pandemic and finishing my last semester of my bachelor’s degree online, suddenly my desire to paint was ignited once again. It started with the inspiration to create a work of art for my best friend Josh who had just moved into a new apartment, the idea coming to me with striking clarity. Finally I was back in front of a canvas again and basking in the creative flow. I created two more paintings that year, one for a final project for a history class based around the counterculture in the 1960’s, and another for a dear friend as a wedding gift that was of a couple dancing in a moonlit forest. These external projects fueled my desire to create in this medium again, but once I graduated and the class projects ended and the personalized gifts of art were delivered, I was suddenly opened up to creating from my own personal internal well again. This is where the seed of the ‘Divine Masculine’ was born.

So what does my creative process look like? The first step for me is usually finding an inspiration photo, most often a striking black and white image of the human form with lots of dramatic shadows and highlights that I find on Pinterest. Sometimes I’ll have a vague idea of an image or pose I’m looking for, but usually inspiration sprouts directly from an image I come across that sets off a cascade effect in my brain and my mind creates the details for a painting. In this case, I stumbled upon my inspiration photo randomly and my artist-brain unraveled the idea pretty quickly. I then grab my notebook and sketch out a rough concept on paper so I can get a rudimentary visual. Once I have the plan mapped out, I set out to gather all the necessary supplies and get a canvas, any special paint colors I need to buy, and anything else that catches my eye for the project. At that point, I’m ready to start bringing my idea into reality. For the next step, I use the grid method I learned in high school to take the image from a printed-out piece of paper, to then sketch the image on the larger canvas to make sure I keep the proportions intact. There are obviously more technological methods of achieving this end result, but what can I say, I’m old school. Once I have the rough image sketched on the canvas and mark where shading and contours are, it’s finally time to paint. I usually start with the background and in this case, it was creating the perfect rich, deep, emerald green that would ground the image. Then it’s time to conquer the figure itself, which is the most involved and detailed part of the process, and where I spend the most hours deeply plugged-in and absorbed in the flow. Once the enormous task of getting the figure just right and arriving at a point where I’m happy with the shading, the more fun and intuitive finishing details can get underway. With this piece, I kept the figure in simple black and white because I knew I was going to be adding vibrant details of gold leaf and colorful nature collage. After adding some shine and elegance with the gold leaf halo around the figure’s head that pops against the deep green background, it was time to jump into the collage. I scoured through a stack of old magazine and tore out any page that had any images of nature, greenery, landscaping, flowers, animals, and lush scenery. Then I set to the task of layering together the images to bring to life a nature paradise that appears to be embracing and growing out of the figure. And at this point, I can finally step back and see the fully materialized painting that I had been holding in my head for months.

So what is the meaning and concept behind the Divine Masculine? We hear a lot about the toxic side of masculinity these days, there are endless examples and conversations around it (and we should continue to call it out and bring awareness to the pervasive ideology that keeps it going), but I think it’s time we acknowledge and hold space for the expansion of its healed counterpart. If we hope to one day arrive at--and integrate--an elevated idea of masculinity, it needs to be rooted in love and acceptance, sensual softness and enlightened strength, embracing their nature and growing their ability to nurture—this is the essence of the Divine Masculine. I wanted to create a representation of this concept by showing a masculine figure who is enlightened, divinely in harmony with their true nature. Someone who has a quiet strength and resilience within them. A person who is deeply held by nature, while also allowing their own sacred wildness to expand and overgrow around them. Someone who is not hell bent on conquering, overpowering, or destroying, but rather an evolved individual who seeks deep understanding, is committed to profound empathy, and is fierce in protecting and nurturing the future. There is so much freedom and joy on the other side of this rigid idea of masculinity that is primarily based in brute strength and power, which ultimately stifles and represses the ability to express and inhabit the true authentic self. Some may view this idea as neutering the big, bad, masculine and relegating it to a soft weakness, but what I’m implying is much more revolutionary—a liberation of the masculine to encompass the full spectrum of being. This is not limited by gender either. Each of us is a spectrum of masculine and feminine energies, some blend of both, or maybe neither—our souls aren’t limited to simple categories and human conceptions of being. We each get to choose and excavate our internal world for what is true, to discover for ourselves what is possible. We all have a divine nature that we can explore and express, and the Divine Masculine can be a part of that.

Now that I have completed this latest piece, my mind has already been looking forward to what’s next. While still in the midst of finishing up this work, I decided to turn this concept into a three-painting series— ‘Divine Masculine,’ ‘Divine Feminine,’ and ‘Divinity.’ This will encompass my meditations on these energies and how they can be expressed visually. Needless to say, my work is just getting started.

 I’d love to hear from you! I’ll leave you with some prompts and self-reflection, but feel free to share these thoughts in the comments. What does the Divine Masculine mean to you? What musings arise when you sit with your Divine Masculine? What does my work make you feel about this idea?

“We have been taught to fear the very things that have the potential to set us free”

-Alok Vaid-Menon