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| Absolutely no portions of the artwork on this page may be used, reproduced, or copied in any way without expressed, written permission from the artist. Failure to comply will result in legal action. All artwork, prose, and poetry (unless otherwise noted) is copyright © 2007 Jorge Gonzalez. |
| THE MANY SHADES OF JORGE GONZALEZ ARTWORK NOTES & COMMENTARY |
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| "His Story" :: Basic Notes & Commentary :: - “His Story” is split up into these 8 different acts: I. “It’s Hard, Isn’t It?” (Introduction) II. “Hello Blue Sky” III. “Critiques of Failure & Accepting Them” IV. “My Heart, It Has No Place” V. “My Love. Always, Forever, & Never” VI. “Look What I’ve Built” VII. “It’s Hard, Isn’t It?” (Climax) VIII. “The Beginning of the Ending” - This poem was inspired by several different ideas. One major influence was Green Day. Their songs “Jesus of Suburbia” and “Homecoming” off their Grammy Award winning album, “American Idiot” played a major role in writing this poem. I felt those songs were so epic and huge, and (while I can’t write a song if my life depended on it) I always wanted to do a poem just as epic and just as huge. I wanted to write a monster of a poem, if not for anybody than just for myself. And I felt with, “His Story”, I did that. - Aside from Green Day’s music (and overall human frustration/emotions) my other influences (specifically) were Quentin Tarantino and his movies, Michel Gondry’s style in film, System of a Down’s “Mezmerize/Hypnotize” album, Pink Floyd, as well as Trent Reznor’s music. - “His Story” is the prequel to my poem, “3”. - The poem was first started around mid-February, and some of the lines are very personal, and dealt with a lot of the feelings and emotions I was going through at the time. In a lot of ways, this poem represents the state I am in. The story is by no means autobiographical, but I’ve always been the type to put out my personal feelings and deep thoughts into both my art and poems. This poem is no exception. - For those of you who pay attention, (or have actually read my poem “3”) you would have noticed that “3” dealt with the character’s act of suicide, and his critique (or feelings) about it after his death. It was the “Goodbye” or the “Ending” to “his” story. This poem, “His Story”, deals with why he does what he does. After living a life in ignorance and denial, he begins to discover the truth and meets other characters and soon prepares for what will be his own undoing. :: Further Deeper inside “His Story”:: - “His Story” shows you the several different characters that are present throughout my original drawings. (“The Boy”, “The Narrator”, “The Messenger” ..ect.) They are all apart of this huge storyline that I have in my head. : P Though, I must point out that this poem “His Story” (while it references many things in my art) does not follow the original story that I have planned. This is a different take on, “The Boy”, “The Messenger”, and “The Narrator”. Not sure if anybody will understand what I’m saying with that, but screw it.. I have to say it anyway. - “It’s Hard, Isn’t It?” is one of the more personal acts on this poem. If anything, it’s the most straight to the point, and not so general. It also comes off as a very angry, yet depressing poem. When writing this act, the whole thing just flowed almost perfectly. I had no idea it was going to so sad or depressing. I read it now, and I get some what emotional or teary-eyed. A lot of what is said on it is very personal to me, and puts me at a very vulnerable state. Despite it’s meaning, I felt it was the perfect opener for this poem. There was just something so catchy and promising about the lines, “It’s Hard, Isn’t it?” followed by a few powerful sentences. I’ve always felt that Green Day’s “Jesus of Suburbia”, opens up very powerful, and very memorable. I felt that starting “His Story” with a very broad question was distinctive enough to do just that. - “It’s Hard, Isn’t it?” was the second act I finished for “His Story” - If you hadn’t noticed by now, Act II: “Hello Blue Sky” is a reference to Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Blue Sky”. Not only is it referenced as a name, but also in the lyrics. Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Blue Sky” has the lyrics, “Did you see the frightened ones? Did you hear the falling bombs?” whereas my poem is denying there ever was any “frightened ones” or “falling bombs”. The denial and over all “ignorance in bliss” go along with the story that I’m trying to convey. - “My Heart, It Has No Place” is like a punk song. The lines and stanzas aren’t that technical and it feels like an angst-filled teenager wrote it. That was the point I suppose. If I had to give it a sound it could most likely sound like the Green Day’s song, “She’s a Rebel” or better yet, “I Don’t Care”. It’s also the only Act in the poem to use the word, “Fuck”. - When doing the poem, there had been a very cryptic and random act dealing with sex, masturbation, and (to quote) “bicycles gangbanging angry pencils”. (Yes, that is one of the lines.) It was very strange, random, and just didn’t flow together with what I was trying to convey. Needless to say, I decided to can the idea altogether. (Had this unreleased act been in the finished product, it would have been after “My Heart, It Has No Place”.) - Act V: “My Love. Always, Forever, & Never” was the last act that I wrote for “His Story”. - Act VI: “Look What I’ve Built” originally started as a drawing than an actual poem. Unfortunately, the drawing was never finished, but it was basically the poem only in picture form. It was everything I wrote, only drawn. Though, I can say that in the drawing you were actually able to see the “gift to the world” the wooden figure was holding. That’s left up for interpretation, so I won’t say what it is. : P - The final act (“The Beginning of the Ending”) was the very first act I completed for “His Story”. - In the final act, “The Beginning of the Ending” the line; “Like the Marfans in my frail frame” deals with one of the characters illnesses. Marfans Syndrome is a disorder that affects the bones as well as several other things in ones body. The manifestations of Marfans Syndrome appear in many parts of the body, especially in the bones and ligaments, as well as the eyes, the heart and blood vessels, the lungs, and the fibrous membrane covering the brain and spinal cord. Learn more about it here: http://www.marfan.org/nmf/index.jsp - In the final act, “The Beginning of the Ending” I name check “Peg Entwistle”. Who is Peg Entwistle, you say? She was an aspiring actress in Hollywood back in the 1920’s. She has been dubbed, “The Hollywood Sign Girl” because after so desperately trying to make it in the business, and getting failed roles after roles, she committed suicide by jumping off the famous “Hollywood” sign (back then it read “Hollywoodland”). Her story is one of failure and tragedy. You can learn more about her, and her death here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peg_Entwistle I had always wanted to reference her either in my drawings or in one of my poems, because I’ve always felt some kind of connection between my works and her story. - Unlike all the other acts, “The Beginning of the Ending” isn’t done like the rest. There are no line pauses or breaks to separate the stanzas. It’s all one big stanza really. I felt by doing this it gave you more of a “hopeless” feel. The whole thing is broken down. It’s the final act that links to “3” and the over all attitude I want someone to have while reading it is, “everything is falling apart, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.” That’s the feeling I have while reading it. It’s the big comedown, or the big collapse of this story. “The Beginning of the Ending” is my reminder to the reader that “His Story” will not have a happy ending. In that sense, I hope I succeeded in doing just that. A lot of the poem is left up for interpretation and for you all to come up with your own thing. There is actually a bigger plot and story going on in this poem, as well as a pretty big twist, but maybe I’m the only one who’s going to know that. Oh, well. That’s okay. Thank you all so much for reading what I have to say and I hope you enjoyed the poem and little info that I have to offer about it. I appreciate all the support you guys give me. It gives meaning to the many things that I do. (Especially you Kay, thanks for getting me out of that lame “artistic block” I was going through.) Again, I can’t stress it enough, thanks everybody! |
