Ancestors by Maxx Moses

Maxx Moses is synonymous with Street Art in San Diego.  Many of the artists’ works adorn walls in our city.  Mr. Moses is quite proliferate and can been seen on YouTube as well as his own website http://posetwo.com/index.php which features the body of work by the artist. 

This work is quite large taking up the entire side of a building on Dewey Street in the Logan Heights area of San Diego.  Wow, now this is Street Art and it also appears to tell a story of not only black ancestry but also that of images, art, animals that proceed from the mind of the subject.  The form ranges from realistic in the feature of the black man to surreal which extend to the images that appear to be produced from the man’s mind.  Vivid color and bold strokes are used to tell a story.   From left to right , an image of a horse, zebra or perhaps a dragon emerges from the forehead and temple of the thinker and from this extends a rainbow of images apparently produced by what appear to be thought waves, evidence by white intertwining curved lines that resemble a ripple.  

From this ripple emerges a face, surreal in form which takes the shape of vegetation and again attempting to take on human form with an eye buried under the lush growth, which appears to be observing its own metamorphosis.   The image then progresses through an orgy of color and shapes to form a small figure which responsible a mammal, perhaps a fox, before going full pareidolia, and birthing a being whose features  - eyes, lips, nose - are those of humanity sounded by the soft silhouette of the animals in which it coexists.  The far right of the mural ends with the lower portion displaying the extension of a hand, which itself appears to be ‘willing’ the further extension of life by acting as an agent of the thought from which it was produced.  

Perhaps this man is a shaman whose original thought and vision birthed his own universe as many ancient creation myths would allude to.   Also as an aside this art form reminds me very much of the art by Alex Grey which is influenced by the shaman medicine brew 

 Also as an aside this art form reminds me very much of the art by Alex Grey which is influenced by the shaman medicine brew Ayahuasca.  Here too the images are ones produced by the mind which weave the way into the production of a world contained within itself.