"Oktofante" acrylic painting from 2012, framed.
 
2012 was such a crazy year. Nova and me moved into our first own flat, we got our first son, we both finished our studies at Münster School of Design, and between commissioned artworks and design projects I found time to work on canvases… This artwork “Oktofante” is a remake of the famous painting “Bonaparte franchissant le Grand-Saint-Bernard” by Jacques-Louis David, that inspired me to work with the expression of a classic oil painting in combination with pop surrealistic elements. I really love the vibe of this artwork, because it combines technical painting skills with the endless possibilities of creation. The Oktofant that Napoleon is riding is based on the idea, that the head of an elefant is like an octopus with only one arm… So probably an unopus…  and an elephants head with additional trunks could become an Octofant. Ok, but with an K. Oktofant… Back then I was fascinated with the “wrong”, the revolution against what is ment to be the right way. I was believing in my art, in the potential I have, even if I was broke as hell, my wife was pregnant, I was fighting with expectations, and responsibilities, painting “beautiful” commissions for our living, and listening to professors who tell you how things have to be done “right”. This Artwork is the expression of the free artist inside me, who does not want to listen to the world, who just listens to his heart and takes the time between all the serious tasks to “not be right”, to not please any customer, professor or anyone who tells you how things have to be. Creativity does not like cages and expectations of others… yes, Oktofante is a painting that contains the will and the believe of young Smoe, who always felt so misunderstood, who felt so wrong, and who takes at least his last free time of the day, to be free and to create something that is so much more important than the officially accepted stuff like getting grades, making money, going the regular way. No. 
Hahaha, I wanted to be wrong, to be free, this seemed to be so much more interesting and fulfilling to me. This is why the Oktofant´s  trunks overlap in an impossible way and if you count them there are just seven trunks - and yes, it is written with an K. Is this wrong? Or is this just the right way like it is? I would say yes… But besides the overall intention of this artwork I would like to give you some pointers about the painting - I gave it a vignette with transparent black spray paint, but made the canvas wet with some water - on this way i created this cracked structure in the edges, that make the artwork look so old… 
I was trying around to find my way of expressing that it is absolutely fine to listen to your heart and to be who you are. And even if this artwork does not contain any graffiti letters, it still is so SMOE, because Napoleon is painted as a “Headchar”, with arms coming out of his ears - a character that is just the head with arms and legs. These characters can`t listen too, they can only make experience, and their heart and brain is one. So funny that kids start drawing characters as heads with arms and legs too, until they learn how to draw “the right way”. 
Does it look funny? Yes. Life is funny and weird, it is full of surprises and stuff that is not logical. And even if you have just 1 hour a day to do complete nonsense, that makes you happy. Do it. And try to give everything to make it 2, 3, more hours a day, where you can leave all the serious tasks behind you and do stuff that makes you happy. Oktofante is the result of these hours. It is a lot of free and crazy thoughts mixed together and painted with acrylic on a canvas. 
Oh - thanks a lot for reading until here. Maybe you understand this painting better now. If you are interested in this artwork, feel free to contact me, smoe@smoenova.de, because we need to find out the shipping to your country first, and this varies so much, but we`ll find. a solution! Thx. a lot!