A Vice in Smoke
by Dustin Bonner
$1,500
This acrylic on canvas painting is a part of a series dealing with the idea of vices, or the things that we use to cope that can be toxic to our wellbeing. These include physically debilitating coping mechanisms, like smoking and drinking, along with mentally or emotionally draining dependencies, like attachments to people. The painting is meant to show a sort of unraveling of the mind or psyche caused by this over-reliance. The addition of mushrooms are meant to hint at a slightly psychedelic aspect, and to be something that rides the border between natural and unnatural, or familiar and unfamiliar. Mushrooms are also known to grow in post-demolition environments and in generally unfavorable conditions, which, in my opinion, is a valid description of what the human mind can sometimes be.