Demon Pictures & other Diabolical Things
I have gathered together most of the Demon Pictures into this little corner of the gallery, though there are still a number of them running amok amongst the Permanent Sketches and I have my suspicions regarding a few of the Gold Fairies, not to mention that a few Unnamed Monsters amongst my other artwork may in fact be demons. And the Christmas Cards are positively Diabolical. That is rather the trouble - demons are rife amongst my artwork in general, as common as, well, something that one finds a lot of, and if you would like to read one or two of my thoughts on the subject, scroll down. If however, you would simply like to look at the nice pictures, the thumbnails below will show you each painting in detail (plus more ramblings).
A few demonic thoughts...
I have been painting pictures of demons since.... well, since I have been painting. The picture of A Long Term Investor (previously known as 'FT Demon') was one of my very first paintings (if one discounts all Christmas cards, pictures, scribblings and sketches from before the point I got seriously into painting and started to wonder about giving up the 'proper job' in favour of being a struggling artist, that is...). Anyway, the picture in question depicts a demon or devil... possibly The Devil (in big capital letters) reading the Financial Times. Several people have mistaken this for a comment upon the capitalist world in which we live, money being the root of all evil and so on. However this is not the case, I am far too pragmatic for that. The 'Long Term Investor' stemmed simply from the idea that all this buying and selling of shares is a risky thing for us short-lived lot, but of course a proper immortal demon can afford to wait an eternity for his investments to turn a profit, in fact he probably is down there in Hell for an eternity, so he might well be looking for something profitable to do to while away the tedious eons.
Hell is Boring
You see, the story goes that there is a Hell and it's there for Eternity. Have you ever actually thought about that? It's an Awfully Long Time. Pity the poor demons and don't wonder that in my paintings they so often look rather bored with their lot in - ah - unlife. Ok, so they have all these damned souls to persecute, but you see the thing with eternity is that no-matter how enthusiastic one was at the start of it all, sooner or later going round sticking one's pitchfork into backsides (standard demon persecution method number 1) is going to become a little tedious, and not nearly as much fun as one had hoped for. No, like many occupations they start out with enthusiasm, high-minded ideals and innovative concepts, and a few million years down the line they begin to feel it has just become another job, and they're just another cog in the great grinding machine of reality.
And in case you question that being a demon is 'a job' just think about it for a moment. The whole monotheistic religion thing doesn't really work without a devil. If one is going to insist on just the one almighty god, sooner or later there has to be a Bad Guy as well, or otherwise whom does one blame when Bad Things happen to Good People? And of course having invented a Devil, he (or she) is going to have to live somewhere, and Hell is such a handy dual-purpose place because not only is it where one can stick the necessary Devil, but it can be where the Bad People go to, as well, because there has to be some kind of punishment or otherwise what would be the point of Being Good, if everyone ended up in the same place in the end. And, furthermore, with many of the major religions claiming that all the members of everyone else's religions are going to Hell, Hell is going to get quite full. The Devil is going to need staff, hence the many forms of lesser demons.
I apologise, I have started writing Jolly Important Concepts in capitals. I will try to stop it now.
Devils are People, Too
Demons are only human, and as I explained they are only doing their job, and they are doing it for a very long time. And of course once boredom sets in, they get lazy. Why bother to actually do any persecuting? They have, after all, an eternity to get on with it, so there's no pressing need to start right now or anything. This explains all the naked blokes in some of my pictures. They are some of the Dammed. The Demons tend to sit on them, there being few tables and chairs in Hell and an awful lot of Dammed, and they are perhaps more comfortable than sitting on the ground, which is rather stony where it isn't actually on fire.
Another picture of demons - this time playing cards:
I wouldn't claim that Demons don't like a challenge, mind you, which is how the painting Watering the Pot Pants came about. One finds that some of the younger, more active demons grow cacti, probably under the auspices of making the Dammed sit on them as a particularly Vegetarian form of punishment. Secretly, thought I think they relish the opportunity to get out into the fresh air, and a pot plant does brighten the place up a bit and add a little greenery to the tedious redness that is most things in Hell. Of course they improve the air quality as well, though probably not very much.
The Thing with the Stockings and Suspenders
Ok, I admit it, I have a thing about the whole fetish image. There are a lot of corsets, stockings and suspenders in my paintings - they just seem to be the right kind of outfit for the self-respecting she-devil about town. And most of the devils and demons I paint are female, partly because I think in general women are more picturesque, and pertly because when I paint men they seem to come out rather camp, which is fine, but limits their audience appeal... The fact is (broadly speaking and stereotyping on many fronts): men like pictures of women, or attractive she-demons, especially in stockings; women like pictures of women, or attractive she-demons, preferably sitting on naked men; I like painting pictures of women, or attractive she-demons, especially in stockings and sitting on naked men. Everyone is happy, aren't they? Well of course not, some people don't like women at all, or even attractive she-demons, even in stockings, even sitting on naked men, but that is just something I am prepared to live with.
Here (for the present) endeth the ramblings on the subject of demons, eternity and my pictures. Please fee free to scroll back up to the top and see each of the paintings in this little section of my gallery, and in a lot more detail, by clicking on the thumbnails. Or if you would prefer, feel free to go elsewhere, I shall not mind.
'Strip Joint' - the last one im my little ramble, and possibly the most popular picture of a demon that I ever painted:
All images and prints are © Nancy Farmer. Please email me if you wish to reproduce any of these images, or see my permissions page in the 'info' section.