29 September 2010

THE PESSISMIST MANIFESTO

Art and I`m talking in a non-literal, rhetorical sense (of course) has to work like compost; instinctive and automatic. Simply put, it doesn`t work when its all elbows and knees. the shit has to be left alone and allowed to fester.

And even though I believe we (the collective unconscious we) can learn anything; how to milk a cobra or the Rubik's Cube being two examples, I ultimately believe the art artist schematic is in the marrow. Encoded deep in the DNA like male pattern baldness, homosexuality or Catholicism. It`s the right side of the brains heaviest hitter. A force of nature as inevitable as a strong wind or a sudden downpour.

Art is the insistence of leaves.

And now with the ability to gratify every transient whim, no matter how lustful or greedy, a mere click away, its never been more important for art to make people think something they hadn`t thought before.

I think a lot about what I am trying to say in any particular piece. With me it's never just about making pretty pictures. I feel a strong desire to push the envelope; artistically and personally. Trying to figure out what the role of the artist is in today`s society. The old message v response debate and more importantly the fine line that seperates instant gratification vs further viewing.

Influences: Picasso, the 1970's, Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Bowie, Cafe racers, TV, Polaroid pictures, slogans written on the backs of jeans jackets worn by infidels, punk rock footwear, Beckett Hellion and Knox Bruce-Lee, New Wave album covers, Japanese gangster clichés, tattoo bossa nova Galaxy 500 nunchucks, Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol, Cy Twombly, Robots in disguise (or otherwise), comic books, Chuck Close, big hair, Soft Core European Pornography from the 1970`s, Asian advertising and packaging, the flow of Hunter S Thompson prose, Monty Python, Flying Mexican Airlines, Birdie Num Nums, New York City, Blaxspoitation, Kung Fu, afro sheen, Brasilia 70, analogue, Kiss, Disco, sparkly, I heart calculators, muscle cars, the first Bond, spray paint, unbeatable kung fu, poppin and lockin, soft focus, dim sum, shiny, Toronto, Apres Ski, Air Jamaica, pruno recipes, Benny Hill dream sequences, air synthesizer

Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?