Conceptually Avante-Garde

René Magritte’s Treachery of Images (the one with the pipe that’s not a pipe), makes a statement about representation. Representation is what we do to represent something. A drawing of a cat represents a cat by mimicking visual cues so as to call to the mind’s eye, a cat. Representation and how it works is often understood intuitively, we don’t tend to think about it as we’re exposed to advertisements, numbers, words, and all sorts of communications. How representation works is a tricky concept when put under some more scrutiny. Magritte’s piece contributes the idea that a represented object is not the object itself, although it calls to mind said object. Representation is one of many ideas I dissect using my art as a laboratory.

Take this piece, the title is above the next block of text.

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Look at the title, can you read it? Look at the piece. What image do you call to mind?

What a treasure chest of thought! How is it that a representation of an object, in the space identifying the subject (the title), communicates less information than an arbitrary array of shapes and colors (the piece)??? This piece suggests that language, and the meaning it supposedly embodies, is an arbitrary smattering of sound. Our communication is only possible because of centuries of history and habit that associate lines in the sand with certain pleasures or pains. I venture to say that not only is representation (words, numbers, & images) an exclusively culturally-defined communication method, but the very thoughts we have (and our feelings about them) are similarly entirely culturally defined. Simultaneously undermining representation & thought.

Physically Difficult

Prior to my start making art, I was an athlete, most notably in the long jump, high jump, pole vault, 100 & 200 meter dash. I got tired of running in circles, but my work remains very athletic. That means that nothing in the world can look like the work I make unless the creator is putting in similar amount of muscle, which I doubt.

Check out this video for some clips of physicality.

Take this piece, Nuclear Plant. The physical technique unlocks a unique style I find gorgeous. The piece stands on its own, even challenging representation by representing multiple phenomena with such violent strokes of color. Life on the planet is a nuclear plant, absorbing nuclear energy from the sun and radiating from nuclear explosions in the core. Nuclear fission plants crash molecules together and are plugged into a humankind on the brink of species collapse, sad. It is just one of many pieces that would be impossible to replicate without looking like a jacked Jackson Pollock.

Philosophically Based

I only turned to art following a philosophical awakening, before that I wanted to be a lawyer. Although it’s been less than a year since the awakening, there’s no going back. I tried to write down what I thought in words and it didn’t work so I took to poetry. That snowballed into dancing before writing. Then dancing before painting. Then dancing while playing the saxophone and painting with my feet. All this bloomed uncontrollably in an effort to communicate a philosophy I now have the words for, in my soon-to-be-published book Truth and Other Trash.

This piece, Convergent Evolution, breathes air from my philosophy as do all my pieces. Convergent Evolution is the term biologists give to describe the phenomenon when multiple species adapt similarly; like how both bats and birds have wings. We don’t have wings, but we like to imagine angels that live in heaven, the ultimate success. Ultimately, that cultural fantasy only exists because of the underlying constant facts, humanity exists to survive and reproduce to feed off the planet and the sun. Notice the couple, converged into the angel. Notice the female dress converged into a penis. Notice the unsettled expression on the angel; a spermy mouth. Notice the halo is either the sun or an egg, just a biological fact. Morality is relative. Gender is a social construct, as is everything else. Perception is reality. ;)

Self-Taught Polymath

I never took a visual arts course, barring 1st & 2nd grade. I never took a poetry course, nor a music lesson. My technique in every genre I approach is entirely self-taught. I bought a saxophone and started to blow. I took some pens and started to draw. I speak three languages, I’m picking up a fourth, and have been writing daily with my left hand to become ambidextrous. The more parts of my brain I can activate, the more the learning feeds into all my work.

The wide array of genres I tap into is reflective of the wide range of topics I experiment with in my pieces. Only through deliberate effort and time can I be constantly learning and innovating new techniques to express ideas. Scrolling through my pieces you may notice they are all very different, I make multiple a day, that is no coincidence.

This piece, Brains, is an image of the most important organ I have. It’s a drawing of my balls. The association of the two, in fact the simultaneous juxtaposition, questions our illusion of control. Who controls you, your brain or your primal urges? Isn’t your brain a similarly limited decision maker?

Thots aside, this is just one of many early doodles. When learning to draw, some study birds and trees or fruit in academic settings or peaceful meadows, I didn’t. My first instincts were as a poet, use as few lines as possible to deliver as full a message. The style has evolved but carries through. The image and what it says takes total priority, and that’s why I sign on the back.

Mimesis

As much as possible, I attempt to push the boundaries of representation by allowing the form of the piece to imitate its function. All of my pieces elucidate my thoughts, often a very specific idea. I attempt to fully embody an idea by using its function to determine its form. If I want to discuss how all perception is based in the mind (subjective), then I’ll play with perspective by making images visible in all orientations (no matter what way you turn it). If I want to communicate something that is hidden, I’ll write on the back so only a little bleeds through. The bounds for creation are endless.

This piece, Sound Surrounded, is one example where form reflects function. The drawing is simultaneously an image and a poem. Multiple sensing organs are implied, purposefully precariously, and drawn to life through text. The idea of the piece, how language is noise before it is language, is reflected in the form.

In Short, It's the Shit

The speed by which I’ve become an artist has been shocking, personally. The above image is when I first got the idea to pursue drawing. This is March of 2019. No training, and less than half a year later, I write these words with the same irreverent intent. In April 2019, I had done a performance piece where I wrapped myself in rainbow yarn while dancing nude to jazz and screamed existential poetry at an audience (I also barked at them) while they watched an explicit slideshow. As you can tell it all went uphill quite quickly.

That’s my humble opinion. For such a subjective field it seems objective enough to be right.

Either way, I don’t particularly care, I just enjoy sharing. If you made it this far you enjoy being shared with. Check out this Nude Rainbow Yarn Dance I made to the Sun!

Go ahead peruse the Work tab, you can see it has evolved significantly from this point, and ain’t it pretty!