Betta Fish / Misc Text
The fish images are an inspiration found in Thai photographer Visarute Angkatavanich's gorgeous book Betta Paradiso, a coffee table book of amazing photos of the majesty of betta fish. Seeing these amazing images made me realize that they describe the fluidity of form and matter even better than that of the female form or flowers, and in particular, the iris.
The flowing form of this species fins mimics the creation of dopamine in the viewer, transporting them to the much forgotten but still embedded nirvanic state of intrauterine submersion. And for those moments, the universe is a liquid, hallucinogenic, and transforming world of pearlescent beauty
For allowing me to utilize his photographs as a basis for my painting series, I first did a portrait of VIsarute's wife as described in the furls of the fins of a betta.. I then imagined the portraits of Dali, Warhol, and Eisenstein in the forms of particular fins, and painted their fluidity as a result. The final fluid masterpiece of the Bettas displays the white fish enveloping a beautiful female. Bringing the flowing forms of both together in an explosion of ink cloud ecstasy.
The same feeling was brought forth in the two paintings, following the water-formed head and the particle head. The last image on the page is based on comments by Benoit Mandelbrot's statement that everything can be seen as fractal. Indeed, I have taken advantage of the words of this genius to depict his breaking of air in a fractal motif.