The Golden Child

A piece that changes based on the time of day: witness the nightly reveal of The Golden Child to his followers. The piece includes the Day version, with believers gathering (12 AM to 6 PM), and the Evening version: every night at 6 PM, The Golden Child is revealed to his adorers for just 6 hours. Most of my pieces start out from one bit of information, or a feeling, or a visual that sticks with me that I end up developing into a full concept. True to its surreal form, “The Golden Child” is one of the rare ones that came to me in a vivid dream. I dreamt of waking up in the courtyard of an ornate Asian temple of unclear origin, built and running on what looked like steampunk machinery. I was surrounded by traditionally-clad figures gathered around the temple's centerpiece - a gigantic skull. I could feel tension everywhere around me, and then a burst of excitement when the skull opened its massive jaw to reveal a golden skeleton of a child, sitting in a position resembling that of a revered god, in the middle of what looked like an altar. All the figures surrounding me knelt in front of what I instantly knew was The Golden Child. He gazed upon the audience for a moment, then clapped his hands together… and I woke up. My first thought once I realized it was just a dream was, of course, “I have to draw this”. So let’s take a quick dive into my subconscious, shall we? The Asian theme probably has its origins in the flatter, all-encompassing perspective that I use in my pieces. It's strongly influenced by 17th century narrative Japanese art painted on folding panels (Byōbu). I rewatched Kubrick’s The Shining last year, and a lot of analysis videos surrounding the movie. A tidbit that stuck with me is that Danny, the kid in The Shining, has an imaginary friend called Tony, who lives in his mouth. It struck me as such a strange and disturbing detail, especially coming from a kid, and now I’m pretty sure that that’s where the image of a mouth opening and revealing a child came from. I don’t think art needs to be explained, but it’s a trip for me to go down my own brain’s rabbit hole and poke at what compels me to draw the things I draw. Can be fun... Or scary. Hope you enjoy "The Golden Child".