"Art and nothing but art! It is the great means of making life possible, the great seduction of life, the great stimulant to life." - Friedrich Nietzsche in The Will to Power
Partial reposting of an article by Chaz Gormley entitled "The Return of the Primitive in Art"
Art represents a symbolic means to represent an essentially unconscious process that is exploring and channeling the primitive darkness trying to arise. When a person in contact with a living primitive level of the psyche, rational consciousness fades, or temporarily dies. This can be a very painful or damaging process, thus the terror felt about contacting the primitive. Art becomes, by necessity, the new means of proceeding through this endarkened world, replacing the lamp that reason provided in the everyday world of Newtonian mechanistic or positivistic thinking that cared only for the light. The one-sidedness of such a viewpoint easily constellates the primitive shadow and projects it onto the environment, which is one of the main reasons for the political and environmental destruction we see all around us. Art lives in and moves through the irrational and the chaotic, forming these energies into meaningful structures for the personality, and sometimes for the society. Examples of art profoundly shaping a society include Classical Greece, Renaissance Italy and Goethe’s Germany (Tarnas, 1991). Through its shaping of form and consciousness, art can transform the primitive darkness in the psyche into a new spiritual light to guide oneself and others towards wholeness and the feeling of liberation (Adler, 1979). Without such a lamp, an irrational destructive urge may take hold of the psyche – a primal revenge manifests for the centuries of rationality’s inflation. Art marries unconscious darkness to the light of ego conscious. In this marriage lies the regeneration of the psyche, society and life – this is the symbolic erection of the new world. The rebirth comes with a renewal of feeling and vitality, and a sense of being called to the work (Von Franz, 1975). Art can teach the ego how to differentiate between the essential and the superfluous, not according to rational strictures, but verified by lived experience. Once the ego has experienced the power of primitive energies to meaningfully shape life experience, the belief in scientific causality, as the only way to describe the world, is shaken forever (Woodman & Dickson, 1996). The primitive energies of the psyche, when functioning in a positive manner, move the focus of life back from machine to organism, from the soulless environment of rationalistic dogma to the individual as part of an organic life community. When functioning negatively, these primitive energies can transform the person into a pure mechanical automaton, with a tendency towards violence or exploitation of others. Essentially, as the ground level of the psyche, the primitive layer functions in a, non-causal, homeostatic, self-regulating manner (Adler, 1979), thus it can appear either positively or negatively. Its style of manifestation depends on the attitude, and the needs, of the ego or the social group. The primitive connects with “an order that emerges [from within the psyche] instead of being imposed [by outer rules or institutions]” (Woodman & Dickson, 1996, p. 39), and reflects the inner order alive in humans and all other life forms.
intro (aka "what is this crap?")
Hello. Thank you for visiting digitalpaintings.com. This site is a comprehensive catalog of the artistic endeavors of Nicholas Blake Seals featuring "digital paintings" which began in 1994 and continue to this day. By now, the term digital paintings has come to represent almost any computer generated art, ranging from photo-enhancement to algorithmic-based designs which are literally computer generated albeit oftentimes based on manually devised input by the "artist." Sometimes it becomes hard to distinguish the program from the art. That's not to say that that is inherently wrong, any purposeful manipulation or selection certainly fits the bill as artwork in my book, as you'll see later. However, digital paintings here are an extension of my previous artwork, whether it be in oils on canvas, or crayon and marker on paper. In this context, the computer (specifically a G4 Macintosh) has become more or less the paintbrush, the pen, or the what-have-you with which I paint, not the how or why I paint. Yes, my choice of media has it's own advantages, and limitations, and happy mistakes or surprises. In my process though, akin to action painting, this is similar to splashes and/or gravity induced painting. (If you choose to view the "more crap" section, you will see the stylistic continuity.) As a painter, or visual artist, I make marks. Of course, it remains obvious to the viewer, online or in print, that the artwork is digital or computer based, and I make no attempt to disguise that fact. Actually, I've gone to some length to maintain somewhat of a primitive digitized look to most of the pieces (more details on that throughout the individual statements in each section.) Yet within the context of abstract expressionism (which I suppose my work fits into, in the broad categorical sense) this does not differ from the brush strokes or the gobs of paint applied by palette knife of painterly abstraction. Stated simply, I am not hiding my media, I embrace it and it has become part of my personal visual language. This also intrigues my interest in ready-mades, brought into popular consciousness most notably by Marcel Duchamp circa 1914, who questioned..."aren't all paintings ready-made? surely each painter did not mix their own pigment...and even if they had, the raw materials were not produced by the artist..." (paraphrased)
Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. The following "artists statement," if you will, is an attempt to offer some insight into what it is I think I'm doing...and why. I guess I've always steered away from statements like these, mine or others, thinking they sounded pretentious and boring (so I'll try not to.) I also always feared that explaining art took away from it's mystery, so to speak, or subtracted from the dialogue between artist and audience, thereby reducing the impact of the piece in question or perhaps even ruining the experience for the viewer. For example I point to your favorite song...before MTV happened, it meant something to you that was totally yours. Once the song was given to the world by its creator, each listener's interpretation was their own magical experience. Then musicians (and their managers, producers, video directors, labels, etc., etc.) started showing us THEIR visions of what the song meant (i.e. music videos) and poof...a little less magic. Eventually though, MTV has become assimilated into our (sub)conscious and we've evolved to a point where even if we watch the video, and the concert, and Storytellers, and Behind the Music...we can still experience a song OUR way no matter how much it's commercialized and explained to us. In the long run, my explanation probably won't convince you to like my offerings if you don't...and if you do, I probably can't talk you out of it. Maybe you'll find it more interesting to know what I'm thinking, or why that mark goes there, or what those words are, and why are there fourteen pieces in the Series of Nine? So I guess that's my explanation for the following explanations, plus everyone else does it, and my mom said I should...
So what is art anyway? I figured I'd start my statement by getting past the easy stuff first. (You remember before when I said I'd try not to sound pretentious right..?) This is just something I came up with, or maybe someone else did. Probably someone else did, but I can't remember who (Adrienne LeBan is my best guess but I'm not sure)...so tuff, I claim it as mine without apology. (note: Ms LeBan contacted me years after I originally wrote this and said that she indeed had said some version of it...) I've been using variations of it for years. It changes all the time, but this is the basics. One more thing before we go on...ideas are dynamic and colorful yet can seem limited when expressed in words. (Nietzche wrote lots and lots and lots of words describing this limitation but I'm not gonna get involved in that right now.) My ideas as published here are limited by my words which are limited by these black letters across the white field of your browser...they're not dynamic (because I can't change them on the fly) or colorful (because there is no two-way dialogue) in this format, but I'll do my best. So...
I believe that art is an absolutely necessary function of the human being. I count it as the third most important thing we do. (And primarily the one which separates us from "the animals.") You may notice as you read on that I've left some functions out of my triad. I noticed that too. I don't care right now. So then...the first most basic function is respiration. It is essentially a two part process. Inhalation, when we take in air to be processed for its oxygen, and exhalation, when we release unwanted carbon dioxide back into our atmosphere. (For those of you into biology we can even think of the complexities of this seemingly simple exchange, from mechanical ventilation to chemical respiration on the cellular level and all of the body systems and parts and processes wound up into this one function.) Now...if we stop inhalation we die. It doesn't even take very long either. Same thing for exhalation. Stop that, and that's that. A couple of minutes without function number one and we can't exist as a human being anymore (in this plane of existence, on this time continuum that is, for you multi-dimensional time skipping beings out there.) With me so far..?
Function number two involves digestion and excretion (and even more body systems!) We must eat, or ingest and then digest (process) on a regular basis, and we have several systems to regulate this function for us. Input, input, input, all that good, fat, greasy American food! Ingestion is the first part of the process, when we take in solids and liquids to be processed through digestion for its energy and other beneficial chemicals. Followed eventually by excretion, when we get rid of all the stuff we don't need. If we stop eating...we die. If we stop shitting...we die. It takes longer than if we stop either inhalation or exhalation (function one) but stopping ingestion, digestion, or excretion eventually leads to no more us.
In essential functions one and two our body systems process air and then solids and liquids from our environment in order to exist. Function number three, art, is another two-part process involving input and output. This function involves the brain and its senses. We are constantly bombarded by information input from our senses. By choice or not, the information input is relentless. Just think about each of your five (or more, I know) senses right now! Become conscious of all that input as it courses into your brain. The sight of these words glowing before your eyes, the hum of the electricity pulsing through the computer, or perhaps you're listening to music, or the kids outside. Maybe you weren't paying attention, but your olfactory sense is on stand-by, awaiting any smell to alert you or entertain you. Feel the keys or the mouse, and just move your tongue to reawaken your taste buds if you weren't already sipping on a coffee or chewing some DoubleMint gum. It is constant. Your brain just keeps decoding. Input on top of input on top of input. And just like functions one and two, we process it, and keep what we need, and output what we...well... wait a second... In functions one and two we input what we want, then process, then output what we don't need. In function three this varies slightly, because here we input everything we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, or otherwise sense, and then the output really becomes what we want and/or need to communicate. This is a necessary function in order to operate as a human being, and I call it art. Everyone does it. Primarily they do it through choice. (Hmmm, another reference to ready-mades!) Choice of input can actually be the artistic act. Certainly choice of output is. The output can be as simple as a choice of clothing or as complex as publishing a comprehensive collection of one's artwork on the web. Input can be the choice to involve oneself in the second (yet equally important) stage of communicable art as listener, reader, or viewer. Collectively our choices, our input and output, communicate things about ourselves into our environment. Our input was someone or something's output, and our output is input for another, or maybe sometimes it's just for us. This is a vast and complex process, yet can be explained quite simply: input, process, output. And I contend that if you stop either the input, the processing, or the output, we cease to exist. Granted, not as quickly or even dramatically as when we stop functions one or two, and perhaps not as obviously, as in not dead dead. Yet in my view, dead. Once the activities of input through the senses, process through the brain, and output by choices ceases, so do we. I could go on for pages on the possible variations within this function, such as limitations due to physical incapacity, but I'm not going to right now. For most people must input, process, and output air, food, and information to continue to exist otherwise they'll die or end up flying over a cuckoo's nest.
Another way to look at it is that this third function (art) is actually the most important function which would mean that functions one and two exist primarily to support function three. I mean, think for a sec...all of these body systems exist essentially to support the brain, and function three primarily involves the brain so...well...that's one way of looking at it...
Now that I've likened art to shit, I'll try to get out from under it. If art as I've explained it is merely a necessary function of human beings, and everyone does it...why the hell can everyone get off by choosing their outfit while I'm scribbling things with a mouse and blabbering about it on a web site!? That, my friend, is a very interesting question. I have two answers for now. Socrates said "the unexamined life is not worth living." Well I think we've assimilated that one. (Barring those of us still living in desert caves getting other people to kill for us in the name of some religion or another.) So therefore I have said (quite recently, actually) that it is the unentertained life that is not worth living! I'm not sure, by the way, if my tongue is or is not firmly in my cheek on this one. I think I mean it. By entertainment, as you may guess, I refer to input...as in, see the previous section. Yet within the context of my statement on the unentertained life, at least as it relates directly to me, I also refer to my artwork. I do consider the input to be equally as important as the output, again, within this context. So therefore I am entertaining myself. I am very much attuned to my function three. I am very enthusiastic about music and visual art, and in turn I am very enthusiastic about processing the input and offering output. It's what makes me happy. I'm doing it for me. I am entertained by the process, it has become like Zen meditation at times. I am entertained when I view my output. And, quite frankly, I am entertained when I share it.
Secondly, in the larger social context, art as entertainment fills a need. Literature, music, visual art, and so on, serve to entertain everyone seeking input. So if we look at our community structure, village, country, world, whatever, by publically offering their output, which, by the way, very often is the result of the examined life, the "artist" entertains the "non-artist," most likely because the non-artist is fulfilling a different need for the community thereby limiting their own need or ability to "art" within the traditional disciplines.
At times, I think it would be easier (for me) not to be "arting" in this sense. To perhaps not be so involved in awareness, examination, even entertainment. I think we "artists" are just paying too much attention to living and sometimes get caught on something (input or process) forcing us to create (output.) Or perhaps the act of creating art is more akin to the search, not for meaning, but to matter. I mean you all don't find it necessary to hang your shit up on the wall, jump around and say "it's art, it's art!" Do you?
"An artist is someone who produces things that people don't need to have but that he - for some reason - thinks would be a good idea to give them." - Andy Warhol
art as expression (not as market campaigns...)
So there it is...why I do what I do. Essentially...no choice, or at least a very lengthy justification for sitting in front of the computer all day long arranging images. Yet I in no way mean to diminish the importance of art as expression. By reducing art to a necessary function you could sense an irreverence toward our grand culture which typically is defined by the arts. From Greek tragedy to the Oscars, scratches in French caves to multi-media installations, humanity has expressed its existence. We report and question history in the movies, sing of unrequited love and social injustice on the radio, share the range of human experience on the stage, push the envelope of visual and multi-media arts being invented even as we speak. No way would I question the inherit grandness of our arts. And in this sense, I also guard my own art as I guard my life. It is me.
market campaigns as art (as expression...)
Which brings us full circle...my art is my life, and I am entertained by it. I enjoy making it, I enjoy looking at it, and like I said before, I enjoy offering it to you, the viewer. By presenting it, here as pixels on a computer screen, as a book of digital prints, an oil painting, or a mixed media construct, the art now becomes something else. For one, it becomes yours. If you enjoy it perhaps it becomes a magical experience, like a song on the radio, and your personal interpretation becomes as valid as mine. Secondly, now you don't have to go through all that input to create all this output...I already did it for you. And finally, it becomes a commodity. It is a thing, like Frosted Flakes or Ivory Soap, that I, as a craftsman and peddler offer to anyone who wants and/or needs it. So, I guess, ultimately it has to look good hanging over your couch or in your bathroom or whatever, you know, has to match the carpet and all. This also intrigues my interest in the contexts in which my digital paintings are presented...as market campaigns. A theme which runs through my books and series is a conversation between the "high" and "low" arts as discussed in the "Pete & Helen" series' statement. I love business cards, and annual reports, and postcards. I am enthralled by abstract and conceptual arts a la Frankenthaler, Hoffman, Ryman, Chase, and so on, yet very interested in comic books, and graphic design, and graffiti. As you peruse the images, notice each section has a link to a statement. That is where I expand on my ideas for each set of pieces and talk about the when, how, and why they are.
Now all this may seem superfluous or maybe even primitive to you artsy-fartsy intellectuals, but this is my art, not yours...well actually I guess it is yours now, but when I had it it was mine to choose, and well...
enough about me, let's talk about me for a while...
This here is my life story...I vascilate on whether or not to put this kinda shit on a website, but if you're reading this I guess I decided that it might make my art more interesting. Although I did go to art school, that's the only real solid-like connection to the art world I ever had...so I'm gonna proclaim "outsider" status. I know artist types breath and eat and shit just like everyone else but I've always been a little curious as to why artists, musicians, and actors are granted a stage. I mean, in the most respectful way possible, what the hell do you know about life if all you do is art? (Wow, that was pretty fuckin' pretentious!) Ok then, for those of you that may be interested...I was born July 31, 1970 in Huntington, NY, on the North Shore of Long Island. I was raised by my mother and her parents in their house in East Northport. In grade school somebody, maybe it was the art teacher Mrs. Hsu, said I was talented. I guess I believed her. That's why I'm still making this shit. See, I believe it's that early influence that can push a youngster into or out of a vocation. Kind of an extension of "speaking it into existence." Anyway...art continued with Mrs. Tennenbaum in Junior High. She was a Holocaust survivor. Her quiet stories and 'tattoo' made quite an impression. High School was at Northport where I finally realized that, yep, I'm an artist. Ms. Rowe (aka Dojoro) was very influencial during my formative years as an artist. She was, in every way, a free-thinker, yet very practical as well, illustrating theory along with practice. Her guidance led to an eventual scholarship to the School of Visual Arts...but wait a second...around that same time, in 1985, I was introduced to another influencial person in my life, Sensei Joseph Carbonara. Actually, a friend talked me into joining the Budokan Karate Dojo, but within months, he had quit. Not me. I stuck around, and eventually rose through the ranks to find not only the expected benefits of a martial art, but also a spiritual and socio-political awakening as I spent more and more time with Sensei and his senior black belts. In 1991, I traveled to Okinawa (and Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea, and Japan) with Sensei and Mr. Hardy James to celebrate the birthday of Grandmaster Shoshin Nagamine, founder of our style (Matsubayashi-Ryu.) All in all, I can say I "grew up" at the Budokan, gaining invaluable experiences and lifelong friendships. My grandmother had passed away in 1983, and in 1989, my grandfather also died, leaving me with a house and some money. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself again...After graduating high school I was split between art and architecture (and the Marines actually, no doubt due to my grandfather being a WWII vet) eventually choosing to attend SVA in New York City. Our 'campus' was Manhattan, our 'dorm' at 9th Ave and 34th St. Now THAT was culture! Initially I was planning on studying illustration, due to my love of comic books and sequential art. (For years, I had spent a great deal of time hanging around a comic shop called Azusa where I eventually convinced the owners, Tom and Gail, into giving me a job.) In my first year, while I tried to learn how to draw, I became more and more interested in abstraction, and contemporary, or conceptual art which led me to change my major to fine arts. Before doing that though, I had the opportunity to study with some of the greats; Gene Colon, Will Eisner, and Marshall Arisman among them. Also in my first year, one of my professors, Ms. Adrienne Leban, became another influencial person in my story. Her blazing wit and hyper-intelligent conversations will always be a favorite memory of SVA. Halfway through my second year is when my grandfather passed away. At nineteen this was more than a little bit of a change. I now had my own house, and my inheritence was burning quite a hole in my pocket, as was my freedom. Not to say my grandfather was overbearing or anything, but psychologically, there was now no one to please but myself. A high school buddy of mine, Mike Crum, had been experimenting with some music in a little studio in Centerport with producers Nick DiMauro and John Tabacco. I decided to finance that project, and eventually became financially involved with the studio. At the same time, I financed and published an independent comic with Phil Avelli from SVA. We even hired our favorite cover artist Bill Sienkiewicz to do a piece for us. (And Tim Vigil and George Pratt too!) While I was spending all this money I amassed a pretty impressive collection of original art (including some really cool early Mike Mignola stuff) and lots of Spider-Man comics. Because of my activities as a publisher and a collector, I met and befriended many comic professionals. Most notably, the legendary team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito. My friendship with Mike evolved into working for him on books such as Spider-Man, X-Men, and several titles from Archie Comics and other independents. Ross, Mike, and I worked to develop Ross' creation 'The Strobe Warrior.' Along the way we partnered with the company that owned my favorite (oh ok secon favorite) theme park in the world, Frontier Town in upstate New York. We even started work on a new Frontier Town for Branson, Missouri. Unfortunately, Ross died suddenly, and the many incarnations of entertainment companies that Mike and I worked towards eventually faded away for myriad reasons. On an alternate story line, my involvement with Mike Crum led to more projects with Nick and John, eventually leading me to open a recording studio (Gateway Sound) with Nick. But even before that I met my (first) wife Janet at the Budokan in 1991. Janet had two children from a previous marriage, Rob and Andrea, who to this day call me by that most honorable title, Dad. We were married on April 23, 1995 in a hand-joining ceremony presided over by my mother, a Wiccan Priestess. Later that year, we added Dylan Joseph to our family. (Joseph for Sensei and for Janet's father.) So, we moved to Greenlawn, where we both live (our now seperate lives) today, and I became a volunteer firefighter and paramedic donating the skills of the other half of my brain to my community. It was soon after moving into our new house that I got back into Macintosh computing, something I had ignored since high school. This return to the Mac is, of course, the birth of my digital painting as delineated on this site. Meanwhile, at Gateway, which by the way was powered by Mac, Nick and I struggled to keep afloat, along the way recording and producing some of Long Island's best and brightest. We released some albums on our own label to (very) limited success and eventually had to close the doors due to financial pressures. During that time I met Larry Nacht, an extremely talented songwriter with whom I remain in contact to this day, staying quietly involved in the music industry through him. There are a great many details and cool stories from my years in the music biz but not for now... After 9/11, I revisited and cemented my interest in the military with a surge of patriotism by signing up with the Navy Reserve. (Ironically my application was submitted in August of 2001.) Just two weeks before (the original) writing (of) this I was serving as a platoon corpsman for Echo Company 2nd Battalion 25th Marines up at Fort Drum in a training exercise. Over the years Janet and I went our seperate ways...I eventually did get married again, to Lauren, who I met while working as a paramedic. A little over two years ago, now, Meaghan Rose was born and we are currently living happily ever after with the cutest little princess known to mankind. The more practical side took over for a while and I've spent the last several years gainfully employed. Currently I work as a Donor Evaluation Coordinator for the New York Organ Donor Network. I also work as a per-diem Medic here, there, and everywhere, and until very recently volunteered with the local fire department, (after fifteen years we kinda got sick of each other and parted company.) From time to time I do art. Right this very second, I'm compiling everything I know about myself and my art and trying to figure out what to do next. The plan is to become ridiculously rich and famous. (Am I too old for that? I guess I'll let you know how that goes...)
Even with everything I left out, that was longer than I thought it would be, and very hard to keep in order. It wouldn't be right, however, for me to leave out my mother Nancy Seals, or mention her only once or twice, as I did. Obviously I wouldn't exist if not for her, in other words, it's all her fault. But seriously, it's hard to pinpoint her exact influence. It's pervasive yet subtle. She's a simple soul of overwhelming intellectual abilities. A soft spoken, kind-hearted, tree-hugging, liberal hippie, but don't cross her. Her presence is and should be seen as intertwining throughout the stories and lives of all those she comes into contact with, noticed or unnoticed, which is part of her genious. Her own story, which she promises someday will be a book, is something to learn and grow from, which I myself continue to do. Thanks Mom.
the jim boggs said i should say "thank you" section
I mention some people who have directly influenced me, my thinking, and my arting. And as you'll see if you're actually reading through all this crap I often cite music (generally and specifically) as an influence. But I have to mention one particular fellow...well, group of fellows, actually. There's no way that I can think of to say this without sounding like a creepy, geeky fanboy (insert pop-culture reference here: "slappin' da bass slappin' da bass!") so fuck it, here it goes...I honestly wonder to myself sometimes if I'm such a Rush fan because of my personal philosophy or if my personal philosophy stems from being such a fan of Rush. I haven't missed a Rush tour since 1984, when I was first old enough to go. (Actually, come to think of it, I'm not certain that my grandfather actually approved of or knew about that first concert. By now, though, all of my kids have accompanied me to shows too, except Meaghan, she was still a little too little when the Snakes & Arrows tour came through...besides she'd rather dance to that new Aaron Carter, Flo Rida "Dance With Me" song anyways. Rob and I got to sit front & center during the Vapor Trails tour in Albuquerque, New Mexico - and yes, we actually flew to Albuquerque for the sole purpose of sitting front row at a Rush concert - and we subsequently drove up to Denver, Colorado where I met up with my buddy Joe, who flew in from Florida to see Rush yet again - I saw them six times on that tour...I'll never forget walking down the aisle with Rob in New Mexico, popcorn and soda in hand, the band was already playing "Distant Early Warning" and Geddy swaggered up to the edge of the stage, in that uniquely Geddy fashion, and as we approached, he smiled down, a purely magical moment for Mr. Creepy, Geeky Fanboy! Anyway, back to the story...) Rush, and even more specifically, the lyrics of one Neil Peart have become somewhat of a barometer of and for my thinking. I don't think he's a god, a prophet, or a mystic, but somehow almost everything he does (they do) hits my mark. Don't get me wrong, I like a whole lot of other stuff, and I've never even read all the science fiction or philosophy stuff that a good Neil Peart fanboy is apparently supposed to read, but like I just said, every time I read and/or listen to this guy (these guys) it just plain rings true. Neil's lyrical observations (read as input - process - output) coupled with Alex and Geddy's sonic compositions continue to stun me, year after year, and make me want to make my own art, which is the deepest, and really the only reaction I have, when something reaches deep down inside me the way their work does. I could go on for days trying to explain this but it doesn't make any sense, so I'm not going to try to make sense of "it," I fear that would lessen "it." I think the best way to address "it" is to just say, "thanks guys!" I really, really mean that too. I know you've got alot of fans around the world sending you all sorts of positive energy, and you guys deserve it, for all the positive energy you've released into the world for all of us. Thanks, thanks, and thanks. "Hope to see again sometime..!" (Oh, and P.S... I can't help but to quote and reference you constantly...sorry.)
So then, with all of that being said, if everybody is neat and pretty, then on with the show...
Click here to return to the homepage, featuring FEAR - or here to look at some other stuff.
oh...here are some more thoughts, quotes, ideas, apologies, explanations, erudications, and pez. actually there aren't any pez but if I could put some in here I would...
Robert Williams' art my be the furthest thing from what I've presented here but I nonetheless like both his work and his rebellious attitude (and his magazine Juxtapoz.) Actually I felt an ironic kinship with him while reading his interview this month (Nov, 2009) as he described his outsider status as a young artist because while he was in school and subsequently trying to enter the (so-called) art world his work was often discarded or ignored because the flavor-of-the-(time) was abstract expressionism, which of course, Mr. Williams clearly does not do. Non-representational art may indeed end up as a foot note in the history of art, however, where he tried it and discovered it "just didn't interest him," I find my own visual masterbation to be my life blood. While he "couldn't breath" trying abstract painting, I revel in it as much as the air I live in. From the commodity stand point though the similarity is this - how do I sell computer generated scribble to an art world buying big eyed manga graffiti emo-bots? Born at the wrong time I guess...
"Paintings have the big problem of always being an auxiliary form of interior decorating. I've seen people buy something because it was purple! I try to foster in people...that this isn't part of your environment; this painting is an entity in itself. In reality the fucking house should be built around the painting." - Robert Williams
"The term 'art' is kind of like a fucking joke. When people ask what you do, you say 'I'm an artist,' and it's kind of hard to keep a straight face." - Robert Williams
©2009 Nicholas Blake Seals