2082 was drawn mainly for Haydn's The Creation and Handel's Messiah. I could have
livened up the illustration with a lot more creatures, or put in lots of pretty flowers, but I just wanted something
easily recognizable and bright so I opted to focus on the sun and the sky. Angels are usually drawn as males in
Christian religious art, but I don't see anything wrong with having female angels, too, so I drew them as such,
I suppose some people will regard this as odd, but I hope they'll excuse me...it's just a "Shirow thing."
In Asian religions, gods and other denizens of the heavens are often shown with wings or flags on their backs.
The differences with the West are apparently a case of different brains processing fundamentally common ideas in
fundamentally different ways. When channelers or mediums are in a trance-like state and speak in their own native
language instead of that of the people for whom they are mediating, it's probably because the language function
is based in the channeler's brain (this excuse always seemed fishy to me...). Language is a function and a structure
acquired after birth, and not a type of software automatically bundled with our souls or lives. Which means there
may be a considerable psychological or internal component to what we think of as psychic phenomena. That stated,
I have to confess that as a fan of Grade B sci-fi movies, I'm not looking forward to the day when neurophysiology
or psychology can explain all aspects of the occult world.
I like the way the wings came out in this illustration. Rather than bird wings, they remind me a bit of sugar candy,
or props used in a stage play. I normally find myself drawing erotically-charged images, or highly destructive
weapons, but I also like Christmas decorations and tiny perfume bottles. (Heh, heh...surprised you, didn't I?)
