Gojira (Breaking Bad) 2019
oil, aluminum, and fluorescent spray enamel on canvas 12” x 12”
Why? Cuz he’s cute.
Also, because I am American. I know Godzilla/Gojira is a metaphor for my country’s atomic and napalm attacks on Japanese cities. Striking with off-the-chart violence, conflagration without consideration, irradiating indiscriminately, and wiping out city blocks with a swish of his tail.
My reference is the 1954 Japanese release of “Gojira”, not the 1956 American release, “Godzilla, The King of Monsters!”, with Perry Mason cut into it.
Overall, both movies are low quality cinema with sodden dialogue, poor plotting, and character development. However when Katsumi Tezuka in the rubber suit starts stomping through the beautifully modeled miniature city, the movie lives. It hits my heart, I am empathetic. I know what he’s talking about.
The desperate mother cowering on the sidewalk soothing her too many kids with, “Now we will join Daddy!” –— heartbreaking.
The monster towering over the buildings —- terrifying.
The nod to King Kong in the train demolition scene —- cinematographically satisfying.
In 2019, I made a dozen or so Gojira paintings.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/p0ps/albums/72157712253708776/
I wanted to have some small size and Pop Art-like paintings to show at monthly “Bar Basic Art Nights”. These events were one-night-only exhibitions that filled a tall concrete interior wall with small paintings heavy with movie and cartoon subjects at Basic Bar & Pizza. It was a popular East Village San Diego gathering of mostly young artists. I went there at age 75. They didn’t card me.
Over a year or more, I showed a few different Gojira portraits at the monthly events, nights hosted by Optimist Volts, a playful sculptor whose art materials are almost always deconstructed spray paint cans and at other nights hosted by Johnny Tran, Director of Thumbprint Gallery, La Jolla.
My Gojira paintings were accepted well by the crowd, They were offered at pocket-change prices and I sold one.
Those nights were for shouting over loud music to other artists and for dancing. I didn’t drink beer and I didn’t like the pizza. I had to catch the last bus home at 10pm.
A couple of years later, three of my Gojira paintings were curated by Amber Zora into her “POP SMOKE: A VETERAN ART EXHIBITION” August 2022 - January, 2023 at Oceanside Museum of Art.
Some fellow veterans didn’t appreciate Gojira’s inclusion but Amber liked Godzilla and the atomic metaphor. All in fun, I thought. But, I understood the horror.
Now, it’s 2026 and Sonya Sparks has curated my “Breaking Bad” Gojira into the Pop Art Show at her essential venue, Sparks Gallery in San Diego’s Gas Light District.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-party-at-sparks-pop-art-tickets-1983208313452?aff=oddtdtcreator
I will be there at 4:15 PM for the VIP Gallery Tour and will stay as long as the party is fun. Again, I’ll be catching the last northbound bus at 10pm.
**********************************
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.