Month: February 2017

A badly drawn penis

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Context is everything. I really appreciate this blog though I have been criticised by close friends that its hard to know what I am on about over the years. It is just that I jump around from the personal to creative writing and various guises. It is even harder on social media to get where I am coming from too. I think I need a marketing team! Only if I could afford one and then could I keep a steady pace and stay on topic?

A friend wants a small book and he said ¨like Banksy´s¨ so I took it literally and was like ¨you need a publisher¨! Maybe you need a following too! ¨Don´t worry¨ I assured him ¨so do I¨. But we agreed we would make a small run version maybe with a service that does small runs and then the veritable PDF version just in case he can actually get a publisher in the future. Why not I love this guys work. We have been childhood friends but he really is talented, not in a friend way. I have never understood why I am not jelous but it is his thing and he has some skills.

He gets collected as an artist but he has moved away from serious collectors becoming a bit of a hermit. It is a worry because he seems more focused on aerosol work which inevitably has to end up in book form for it to truly survive. We made a small run book through an Apple service recently just to show people who may have a wall they want painted. The quality wasn´t bad but wasn´t great either but it does the job it was intended to do.

On another note I felt quite inspired to draw which I did with my paint pens and I feel quite keen on doing an aerosol wall in around two weeks. I have some bills to sort and I really need to relax a bit more so I don´t get too stressed. A lot of opportunities have come up socially but with it comes some dramas so I am treading lightly and feeling things out. It makes me realise why I have been so aloof for so long.

I have always tried to associate myself with progressive thinking even if it makes me look like I have bad taste. I feel that we need to be as open minded as possible to allow what is at once a sign of difference but I don´t in any way feel like that is the only answer. Ok so what am I saying? Try and find the thread of progressive attitudes even if it seems kind of naive and see if it can inform my practice to not just confuse the issue of being progressive even if it makes people think you are on amphetamines….which I am not thankfully! My biggest fans have actually been opiate users….true story!

With this little odd conclusion I can add that recently some people had thought that I was on ice metamphetamine but my goal is to be progressive and push against conservative attitudes even if it makes me look kind of suspect. But in Australia it is easy to be misunderstood. I don´t do drugs I do progressive art attitudes. It isn´t all about squiggly lines and badly drawn penises but in this country a bad drawing and ´bad´ attitude can throw off all types of associations.

Rexzy Paze painting

derekjamescarterLeave a comment

In regard to my comments on working with Paze and Rexzy what is important to note is I am just stuck in my ways. A lot of writers call me an artist and I get worried that on the day I might do a bit of an odd ball piece out of the flow of what is going on. For example it all depends on my head space. Where I am mentally on the day that dictates what the piece will look like. I think that when I thought about it I was worried that seeing that I am not very consistent I could go out on a tangent. This doesn´t always happen and I have a style that can cope with my intermittent brain firings. 

I can´t say it more plainly that I am a bit nuts. But whatever will be will be. Not to say I am trying to make it into a big deal. But when your painting with the old school kings you tend to worry if you are up to the task. I just have to stick to what I do and try my best. I am a bit paranoid at times. 🙂

Trophy room mentality

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Finally got to read Banksy’s ‘Wall and piece’. There is no doubt he has a very easy appeal. What I liked was his description of galleries as a trophy room for millionaires. I liked the description but felt it highlighted my disdain for his attitude. There can be times when art is just a trophy room and artists I know get the same feeling when they get collected by millionaires. It is a divide and fame and success seem fraught with this feeling that you are waiting to get put in someones trophy room. The facts though it isn’t always millionaires or billionaires but collectives and individual collectors who are far from rich. I am sure they hope they can get some return but a lot of it is just about collecting interesting artists. It is hard because you need more of these types and there is a trophy room mentality a lot of the time. I once met a collector who collected to keep up with the trends in his set.

What Banksy tries to do is get people organising their own affairs. What I think of is that you need to keep faith in organisations and institutions. That is really important these days. But its just as bad to feel you just spectate the trophy room or find yourself in it. Banksy has found his way in the trophy room and in a sense that doesn’t take away from his art but takes little from his attitude.