Welcome to my art blog



A self-taught artist, I have always been drawn towards the macabre. Born a twin on Christmas Eve 1964 in Montreal, my twin died several months after birth. This became a large influence in my creative process; isolation, detachment, duality, haunted visions coming from this astral being that I am forever tethered to.

Art has always been my way to process and filter what I come across, what I am subjected to, or what I subject myself to each day; a way for me to exorcise the demons on my shoulder. The paintings are empathic, often inspired by the individual’s strength in the face of their own weakness. The common thread in all of my works is survival of self.

If a viewer is made uncomfortable by my work, then I have done my job as an artist. I have touched something within them that they are not comfortable with. I want to elicit a visceral response but maintain a sense of the absurd, creating works that are both intensely horrifically personal and humourous.

I am inspired by artists that have celebrated the grotesque: Hieronymus Bosch, Joe Coleman, Otto Dix and George Grosz.

This blog is a progression of my work, works in progress, random thoughts etc. You can join me on Facebook or view a gallery of my work on Flickr at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27952465@N05/

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Your f(r)iend,

Grant Cunningham

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Aggressive Passive

Passive Aggressive is a difficult birth. I've been working on and off on this painting for almost a year for a variety of reasons, none of which are interesting enough to list here. I've committed to finishing this piece and am going to focus on it until it's done. A long slow process. I think I wasn't happy with the colors.... the shading looked very two toned and there seemed to be vast expanses of space with nothing happening. I've been working on the "passive" figure in the painting and added the skull on the shoulder, which I'm quite happy about. The paper on the chest said "coward" at one point, but it always felt very blatant. I'm thinking about perhaps adding my glyphs, we'll see. I may leave it blank until the painting is finished, and save that for last.

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