INKTOBER 2025 Day #25: INFERNO.

INKTOBER 2025 Day #25: INFERNO.

“I think I’ve carried the label ‘weird’ for most of my life for various reasons. It never really bothered me, and in some ways I have viewed it as a badge of honor (if you have the right perspective). Weirdness is in the eye of the beholder, after all, and it really just means different or unique as far as I’m concerned.

Weirdness has levels, though. I would love to have been able to talk to Hieronymous Bosch, the Dutch painter of ‘Inferno’ (or hell) to find out how on earth he came up with the imagery for that painting. This is my simplified take on just a section of his famous triptych ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’, and even that was overwhelming. There is just so much going on I gave up trying to be super accurate (and overlooked the opportunity to put a plunger on every little character’s head). This tree trunk-armed, boats-for-shoes, hollow skin torsoed, plate-headed guy always stood out to me and was one of the first things I thought of for this prompt (the other involving disco…). There is so much packed into each panel. There are so many figures and little scenes taking place, so many weird little details. I remember spending a lot of time discussing this piece in art history class. I remember there is supposed to be a lot of symbolism and meaning crammed into every square inch, but I can’t remember any of it and I wonder about those that claim to understand what’s going on. It’s nutty and sort of surreal. It is cool, though.
Anyway, be weird, let them wonder.”

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