"A Bacchanal at Dolores Park"

I had a tremendous amount of fun doing this piece. It was my first-ever commission and I was worried the patron would be as challenging as my IRL clients, but they graciously gave me a simple brief and asked that I "go for it." So I went for it.

At first glance, "A Bacchanal at Dolores Park" is a busy snapshot of a queer picnic at the infamous Dolores Park. Men are laying about, enjoying themselves, and each other. As we look closer, their stories come forward.

There's a lot to cover, so let's start with the underlying composition.

Composition Check

If we draw lines from corner to corner, an "X" appears. This gives us a focal point (although I've moved the bong just out of center to allow your eyes to wander) and implied triangles pointing up, down, left and right. A rectangle implies two perfect, overlapping, squares, which align with the golden ratio. By connecting our corner lines to these golden points, we create the rabatment of the rectangle, aka dynamic symmetry. The bodies are posed to compliment this hidden geometry and important symbolism is hidden at the intersection of these lines.

There's actually four Fibonacci spirals, but the one I want to highlight starts at the bored Filipino hunk, follows the curve of the backs and butts, then runs along the heads of the top group, before ending at Sutro Tower (a San Francisco landmark...more on that later).

The Fibonacci spiral ends where another begins, creating a captivating composition that leads you around the image.

If you look at the implied lines of sight and blocking, everything converges at the bong. (My favorite is the implied triangle made by the knee of the crouching Polynesian fella).

I'm also using light to help guide your attention and highlight interesting elements.

To create the "dappled light" effect, I used a gobo of some leaves. This creates the soft filtered light you might get at a picnic under the trees, but it also creates an oval contained by the 4 Finbonacci spirals, further establishing the group boundaries.

I then used spot and rim lights to accentuate certain details and figures (emphasis right).

Of the three elements of color (hue, saturation, and luminance) luminance (or how light/dark something is) is the most strongly perceived by human vision. Our eyes are incredibly sensitive to changes in light and dark values. I placed the men with darker skin in a zig-zag along the golden ratio to create depth with value and curve the flow of the remaining men in an "S" shape. This is called the "S-curve" composition, and it's pleasing to the eye because of it's similarity to the shape of a river.

Symbolism

There's so much symbolism and hidden details in this one that I can't cover it all. But here are my personal favorites. All the sexual details are implied through symbolism, from the erect and phallic structure of the tower in the background, to the blunt. Even the bong is held over a man's crotch, imitating a "baitin'" motion.

A basket of phallic fruits, breads, and grapes (which have long possessed connotations of abundance and fertility) just barely obscures the crotch of one very thick boy. A banana lays before him as a proxy for something, but what?

Look at the two collared boys, the gaze they share, like two dogs sizing each other up at the park. Look at the two men in the top right, whatever it is that they're doing. And check out all the hands; some are open in longing, others push and prod.

There's so much hidden symbolism and things in here. Take a moment, look where the characters look, indulge yourself some people watching. What's really going on here?

Environment

The patron who commissioned me is based in San Francisco, one of the great "gay cities" of the world. Although I've never been, SF has a reputation for hedonistic pleasures like gay parties, drugs, and free love.

Beside SF's gay village (the Castro) is a famous place called "Dolores Park." This is one of the places where the gays of the city sun bathe and socialize. I've seen it called "Gay Beach" and "The Fruit Shelf," a section of the park (weirdly on a hill?) for nude sun bathing. That sounds so cool, I hope to visit someday.

All the photos online make it looks amazing, albeit busy. I tried to capture that same energy with my render, showing all these men enjoying themselves and their bodies in a unique and special queer space.

Prints and Thanks

The patron who commissioned this retains the rights to reproduce it, and will be announcing prints soon. Please visit his site to learn more about the art project:

https://linktr.ee/bubsbongsandbatin

I had a lot of fun doing this. I feel this piece really represents what I want to be doing with my art. It was very revealing what I had fun doing and now I know what I want to do next. Thank you for reading this and enjoying my work 🙇🏽!!

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