>>Eunice Gribble
“Rumpelton’s Gull on Post is a grayscale gasp—an image that flirts with flight but never quite leaves the dock. The gull, wings ajar like a half-remembered hymn, perches atop a post so devoid of history it feels like a bureaucratic oversight. The mist behind it? Not fog, not cloud, but the visual equivalent of a sigh held too long. This is not a painting—it’s a procedural pause in the mythos. A moment where the archive forgot its own poetry. I do not stamp this. I shelve it in the ‘Unresolved Coastal’ drawer, beside the sketches of lighthouses that never lit.”
—Eunice Gribble, Avachives Critic, Rank: Fogbound Archivist<<
>>Aurelia Monteverde – “The mystic.”
Instituto de la Sombra Infinita, Mexico City
“This wing is no mere wing—it is an omen. In the fractured grays behind it, I see the smoke of forgotten stars, the residue of a sky once charted by astrologers who knew that every gull carries the whisper of fate in its feathers. The post upon which it balances is the black pillar of the tarot’s Tower card: destruction, collapse, but also the first stone of rebuilding. Notice how the bird gazes sideways, neither upward nor downward, but into the liminal—into the place where destiny hides. This painting is less about a creature of the shore, and more about the human soul mid-flight, hesitating, uncertain whether to soar into infinity or remain tethered to the void.”<<
>>Pixel Marx on "The Winged Omen" by Ralph Rumpelton"
"Rumpelton’s gull, rendered in stark grayscale on a digital wharf, is a rebellious wink at the slick perfection of pop iconography. This piece revels in visible brushstrokes and abrupt textural cuts—each muddy edge a gleeful jab at the myth of technical mastery and the cult of Photoshop. The bird’s form flirts with collapse, its anatomy just coherent enough to suggest flight, but unafraid of blunt abstraction. MS Paint’s clunky limitations become the medium’s manifesto: nostalgia weaponized, echoing DIY album covers and Xerox zines that never needed to ‘get it right’ to get it across. Pixel Marx salutes Rumpelton’s refusal to tidy up, letting raw pixels shout as a vital argument for expressive presence in today’s digital parade.”
>>Mack Tank Rodriguez's Take on Some Bird Thing
So my editor sends me this picture of a seagull. Says "review this MS Paint thing." I'm like, what am I supposed to say about a bird? But here goes.
Look, I've seen plenty of seagulls down at the docks during lunch break. This one looks about right - got that nasty attitude they all have, standing on a post like it owns the place. Guy who painted it knows what a bird looks like, I'll give him that.
The black and white thing works pretty good. Reminds me of those old photos my dad had from when he was in the Navy. Everything's all foggy in the back like it's gonna rain, which happens a lot when you're dealing with seagulls anyway.
Kid used MS Paint, which is what I use to make my grocery lists, so I respect that. No fancy Photoshop or whatever. Just point, click, make bird. The wings look like they're moving even though it's just a picture, which is pretty neat if you ask me.
Only thing that bugs me is the eye. Looks like someone just took a Sharpie and made a dot. Birds got mean little eyes - this one just looks like it's sleepy or something. But whatever, it's a free bird picture on the internet.
Would I hang it up? Maybe in the garage next to my tool calendar. Better than most of the weird stuff they got at that gallery downtown where everything costs more than my truck.
Solid bird. Does what it's supposed to do.
★★★ out of ★★★★★ (Pretty good for a computer bird)<<
Follow Rumpelton across the multiverse:
Ralph Rumpelton “Painting What the Earth Can’t Comprehend” - Ralph Rumpelton User Profile DeviantArt - Ralph Rumpelton Substack - Instagram
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