Freedom and Restraint
Monday, January 3, 2011 at 09:58PM I was very excited to receive a series of doodles from Christopher of Carthage, USA. What fascinates me about Christopher is his background at the time of his doodle: A graphic design major with a minor in Law Enforcement, who was working as a corrections officer at the time.
Christopher's doodles were drawn during class. With his graphic design skills, most of his doodles reflect his talent and are beautifully drawn images. However, I wanted to focus on one very simple and expressive image that he clearly drew during one of his law enforcement classes.
What I love about this drawing is the physical quality of the subject and his focal point....what appears to be a pile of s&%#! I firmly believe that people who explore and follow their passions will find fulfillment and success in life, and there is nothing more exciting than that early stage of life when you're young and trying to find your way. It is rare to find a creative soul who also has the altruistic drive and bravery for law enforcement. Christopher was 22 when he drew this and I can only imagine what it felt like to swing from untethered artistic freedom to the focus and restraint required to work as a corrections officer! Experiencing these two vastly different worlds at the same time, I imagine would provide for loads of creative inspiration for his art classes.
When I look at this doodle, I see a super-hero in position to save the world zeroing in on a villain who is really just an innocent-looking pile of s&%!. In my mind, the hero here did not just finish zapping a frightening-looking villain melting him into a pile of excrement. It seems that the villain was always a pile of poop and the dramatic superhero didn't do much other than put on a well-choreographed show...which has highly confused our soggy, shapless criminal.
Either way, our hero wins and our bad guy remains the coward he always was. Am I over-reading this??!! I don't know if this simply reveals a day in the life of a corrections officer or the internal career questioning of an artist vs law enforcer (if so, which is the "poop"? The open-ended freedom and impending struggles of the artist or the potentially serious physical threats facing a law enforcer??).
Ok...enough of my babbling. Please enjoy Christopher's doodle and let me know what you think!
