This darwing represents Alec DeMarco’s personal interpretation of a forest spirit or deity, bringing together two fundamental influences on his artistic identity: the traditions of Japanese tattooing and his lifelong connection to the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

During his nearly three-year apprenticeship under a Japanese tattoo master, DeMarco began his training by studying the representation of four fundamental elements—Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire. While these elements provided an essential foundation for understanding the visual language and symbolism of traditional Irezumi, he always felt that something was missing. For DeMarco, plants, trees, and forests possessed an elemental significance of their own, deserving a place alongside the forces traditionally explored during his training.

Having grown up surrounded by the dense forests of the Pacific Northwest, the artist developed an intimate relationship with nature that continues to shape his creative vision. The forest represents more than a physical environment; it is a source of memory, identity, resilience, and spiritual connection. Its beauty, complexity, and untamed energy have become recurring themes throughout his work.

In this composition, DeMarco introduces his own forest spirit or god, an imagined embodiment of the natural world that reflects both his personal experiences and his reinterpretation of traditional artistic principles. Rather than drawing upon a specific established deity, he creates a figure that belongs to his own visual mythology, giving form to the presence and power he associates with the forest.

The resulting drawing becomes an expression of DeMarco’s desire to expand the elemental vocabulary he encountered during his apprenticeship. By introducing the forest as an essential force of nature, he establishes a dialogue between Japanese artistic traditions and his personal history, transforming the landscape that shaped his childhood into a symbolic presence within his contemporary abstract practice.