Amok Amok Amok
We weren't always allowed to celebrate Halloween when I was a kid. We usually celebrated "harvest parties" and carved crosses into our pumpkins. We only went trick or treating a few years, always in family themed costumes. We weren't allowed to watch Nightmare Before Christmas even though it played on the TV at the after-school facility my mother worked at. I have my Grandma Maggie to thank for having Hocus Pocus in my life. She introduced us to it as kids and I was enthralled!
We all know the main characters in Hocus Pocus are a group of kids, but the real heros are the Sanderson Sisters. They spend most of the movie trying to save Max from his narcissistic, manipulative, spoiled villain of a sister, a child so vile she publicly talks about Allison's "yabo's" just to humiliate Max. Only at the end of the movie do the valiant sisters realize that Max is bewitched beyond their assistance and that they must destroy him in order to save him... or so the story goes... Dallas could have used the assistance of the Sanderson Sisters in his youth.
I love each of the Sanderson Sisters for their own reasons and I really wanted to bring out each of their characters with this art. I felt like making all three of them in one art piece would have detracted from what each of them have to offer individually, but I also didn't want them to be completely detached from one another, which is why I elected to make my first triptych. The images I chose and the order I put them in was intended to channel the energy of when they hiked up their dresses and marched together. They are comical, beautiful, intimidating, and on the prowl.
I started with Sarah. She is known and often criticized for her hyper-sensuality, but I think her cunning is often overlooked. She sensed the children when they were hiding behind the dumpster, and when the sisters were trying to recall the ingredients for the potion without the book, Sarah was the only one to say what the missing ingredient was. As an adult, I would say that Sarah was held back by her lack of attention and focus. I thought that in some ways she was the most harmless because she is such a spaz, but that spazziness is what makes her so fun.
Mary is who I finished second. For a portion of my life I struggled with Mary as her order in the sisterhood reminded me of my middle brother, who I did not get along with. I have since learned to disassociate the two and creating this art piece became cathartic. What I like about Mary is how openly weird she is. Her barking gives me life. She has great instinct as well, sniffing out clues before her sisters would. Her downfall came from not trusting herself enough and allowing others to tell her what she was worth. Of the sisters, I felt like she received the most aggression from Winifred.
Which brings us to the final and central piece in my triptych, Winifred Sanderson. What her sisters lack in focus and confidence she more than makes up for, with the added traits of ambition, talent, and passion. Her skills with the dark arts were honed beyond that of her sisters, making her their supreme and a clear choice for their leader. Where Winifred failed her sisters is that she couldn't see past herself enough to truly trust what they offered. If she heeded their warnings then the story would have ended differently, and this is seen several times during the movie.
Creating these three pieces gave me the platform to celebrate something that was a beacon in my childhood. Their colorful and ornamented style is very rock n' roll to me, supported by their iconic performance of "I Put a Spell on You." I suppose it is something to consider, but I've spent 29 years of my life looking for a genre to describe myself: Goth, Punk, Geek, Twink, Hippie, Queer... but nothing has the earthy soul of Rock n' Roll. This triptych is a tribute to the witches that helped me keep sight of myself before I started to figure myself out.
If you would like to purchase the Sanderson Sisters, please visit my Etsy store, https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtByJacobTDownes, or contact me directly for a customized order.
We all know the main characters in Hocus Pocus are a group of kids, but the real heros are the Sanderson Sisters. They spend most of the movie trying to save Max from his narcissistic, manipulative, spoiled villain of a sister, a child so vile she publicly talks about Allison's "yabo's" just to humiliate Max. Only at the end of the movie do the valiant sisters realize that Max is bewitched beyond their assistance and that they must destroy him in order to save him... or so the story goes... Dallas could have used the assistance of the Sanderson Sisters in his youth.
I love each of the Sanderson Sisters for their own reasons and I really wanted to bring out each of their characters with this art. I felt like making all three of them in one art piece would have detracted from what each of them have to offer individually, but I also didn't want them to be completely detached from one another, which is why I elected to make my first triptych. The images I chose and the order I put them in was intended to channel the energy of when they hiked up their dresses and marched together. They are comical, beautiful, intimidating, and on the prowl.
I started with Sarah. She is known and often criticized for her hyper-sensuality, but I think her cunning is often overlooked. She sensed the children when they were hiding behind the dumpster, and when the sisters were trying to recall the ingredients for the potion without the book, Sarah was the only one to say what the missing ingredient was. As an adult, I would say that Sarah was held back by her lack of attention and focus. I thought that in some ways she was the most harmless because she is such a spaz, but that spazziness is what makes her so fun.
Mary is who I finished second. For a portion of my life I struggled with Mary as her order in the sisterhood reminded me of my middle brother, who I did not get along with. I have since learned to disassociate the two and creating this art piece became cathartic. What I like about Mary is how openly weird she is. Her barking gives me life. She has great instinct as well, sniffing out clues before her sisters would. Her downfall came from not trusting herself enough and allowing others to tell her what she was worth. Of the sisters, I felt like she received the most aggression from Winifred.
Which brings us to the final and central piece in my triptych, Winifred Sanderson. What her sisters lack in focus and confidence she more than makes up for, with the added traits of ambition, talent, and passion. Her skills with the dark arts were honed beyond that of her sisters, making her their supreme and a clear choice for their leader. Where Winifred failed her sisters is that she couldn't see past herself enough to truly trust what they offered. If she heeded their warnings then the story would have ended differently, and this is seen several times during the movie.
Creating these three pieces gave me the platform to celebrate something that was a beacon in my childhood. Their colorful and ornamented style is very rock n' roll to me, supported by their iconic performance of "I Put a Spell on You." I suppose it is something to consider, but I've spent 29 years of my life looking for a genre to describe myself: Goth, Punk, Geek, Twink, Hippie, Queer... but nothing has the earthy soul of Rock n' Roll. This triptych is a tribute to the witches that helped me keep sight of myself before I started to figure myself out.
If you would like to purchase the Sanderson Sisters, please visit my Etsy store, https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtByJacobTDownes, or contact me directly for a customized order.
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