When I’m not painting, I’m making irreverent and stupid memes. So I finally got to combine my two passions.
To commemorate the 6th anniversary of the passing of our sweet prince, Harambe, I painted this dumb (but also wonderful) painting
The Harambe is a transfer (from laser printed paper using gel medium), which was then sealed with a clear gesso so that transparent colors + liquid clear could color the image, but leave it visible.
Making this idea a reality was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to doing more paintings featuring transfers!
Wonderful!......Please clarify....you had a gorilla?
Thanks! @tel, I did not have a gorilla, Harambe was the gorilla that was shot and killed at the Cincinnati Zoo in 2016.
Ah, being from across the pond we tend to miss these things, so was Harambe shot by some nut job?......please explain.
@tel - what happened was that an absent-minded parent dropped their child into the Gorilla enclosure at the zoo, and the zoo staff shot and killed Harambe. The incident had a ripple effect in internet culture, with many people calling for justice for Harambe (in the form of online petitions, copypastas, and of course memes out the wazoo); as time went on, it got more and more absurd.
The phrase "well, in 2016 Harambe got killed and it's all been downhill ever since" is common, since hey, things pretty much have only gotten worse since then.
The image of Harambe surrounded by heavenly clouds is the source inspiration; that image has also grown to include other celebrities who have passed (2016 was a particularly heavy year for beloved celebrity deaths). Here's an example of the original and what it has grown to:
https://i.redd.it/lq321uw63b241.jpg
Hopefully this crash course in the cultural impact of Harambe has been fun and educational! And of course, inspiring :)
Indeed....Thanks MC
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Inspiration and awesome ideas in execution - very well done.