I've always been drawn to imagery that focuses heavily on juxtaposition. The work of Simon Stålenhag was one of my original points of entry into the world of Illustration, and undoubtedly greatly influences me today, but that being said, I often find these comparisons to be too direct. When I was a kid, I got tired of imagining a giant monster tearing up my hometown, as I knew that break from monotony would never come. Instead, when I would see emergency vehicles speed past me on the highway, or hear the whirr of a helicopter above, I'd imagine there was something far more interesting happening outside my field of view, and while I couldn't see the monster or the aliens, I was part of that world, and I was happy.
In retrospect, this was an incredibly morbid way of daydreaming, but now, it fuels the majority of my artistic endeavors. To paraphrase my friend, artists like Simon Stålenhag are interested in comparing the normal with the abnormal, I'm interested in comparing the normal with the normal, and finding weirdness in that juxtaposition.
There's a story to the piece "These Days", and a world I will continue to explore, but for now, the details are best left as clues. From location to aspect ratio, there is a wider world being presented here, but it may be just to just enjoy the view.
