08/29/2026
Rexx Arkana - 18"x24" acrylic on canvas. The final Fair art exhibit reveal for this year.
As you may have noticed, I usually enter at least one music portrait every year because my bands are like my therapy, so they're very important to me. 😅💊 I chose Rexx from FGFC820 (with a bonus wee Dracos) because our music scene lost a REAL ONE this year (f*** cancer!), and I was up in here feeling all the feels. I sidelined other ideas I had percolating to pivot to this piece. I suppose you could call it a tribute piece, but it's probably more of a self-serving my-brain-is-on-fire-make-it-stop catharsis piece.
I loosely based the composition on a photo I took while at Mechanismus Festival: Stronghold (2022). A lot of the creative choices, like my favorite neon paints (hard to photograph, sadly), the graphic style, and the bold contrasts I feel go with the kind of bass-pounding, foot-stomping, face-melting energy the crowd experiences at a concert. And FGFC820 always brought the energy!
I really don't get out to shows too often, but I'm glad I was able to catch them a handful of times. They were one of the many bands I was introduced to in college through streaming internet radio. Ever since, songs like "Doctrine", "Insurrection", "God & Country", "Not the World I Remember" all take me to places and times in my memory where I could be free to be me and meet some of the absolute coolest people in the world, so I will always be grateful for that.
Thank you, Rexx. 🌹