art by Diane Romanello & Felix Yin
“Eternal Lightzilla” was inspired by street artists who are able to create whimsical visual art out of the everyday world around us. The underlying image was a large framed print of “Eternal Light” by Diane Romanello that was being discarded (frame and all!) by a retiring co-worker cleaning out their office.
Having recently watched a Godzilla movie, the selection of subject was rather easy. And of course, why not throw in some Ultra-man like characters to fight this Kaiju. For this type of repurposed painting I try not to match the style of the original painting, though I probably couldn’t even if I wanted to! This forces the viewer to recognize the art has been drawn over and to question what is original and what is not. What emotions did the original artist intend the work to evoke? How do those compare to what the viewer feels looking at it now? What was once serene may now cause the viewer to burst out in laughter. Mission accomplished.
In homage to the original title “Eternal Light”, the electric blast from Godzilla was painted in a glow in the dark paint allowing the image to persist, albeit briefly, in the darkness.