BLURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (CODA)
By:
September 25, 2022
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, delivering brief remarks on mottos, mantras, speeches, slogans, and other words to live by. Series edited by Adam McGovern.
BLURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM (CODA)
My artist statement reads:
I have an exaggerated need to emotionally connect with people in a direct way, which I believe is what drives my work.
Although I do a variety of conceptual and performing art, my The Thought in My Head series expresses my artist statement most forthrightly. I have been doing a series of these paintings since 2011 and have over 100 sayings to date.
It is most fulfilling when someone identifies with any of these paintings — I feel as if I am “seen” by them. I also love and am inspired by other artists’ works, most significantly by Jenny Holzer, who has political, serious, and highly profound things to say, such as “The beginning of the war will be in secret.” I also have a favorite small wooden sign bought in a cheap souvenir store that says, “Just remember, you’re unique like everyone else.”
I see written language out in the world — graffiti, signs, posters, flyers, matchbooks — in one big cauldron. Depending on how it’s contextualized, the meaning can be changed radically, often in a humorous way. When you use words without an image, the emotion evoked by the words comes from the context in style. When you see the painting, “If I’ve never offended you, we’re not that close.”, you see the words on a canvas — it reads as an artwork. If someone else places that painting in their home, that saying is coming from them. If I hand someone a matchbook that I have, with those same words printed on them, I’m hoping it makes them feel closer to me, and it helps me feel less self-conscious about being appropriate, which I am often not, though I have no desire to offend.
For close to 30 years, I worked as an art director in advertising. Through that experience, I saw and learned how words were consumed by people. How quickly they are processed and discarded if they are processed at all. Through numerous focus groups watching strangers react to my advertising I created, I learned how widely different the same ideas were interpreted by people in the same room! I think ultimately language is the best tool we have to communicate our thoughts efficiently. And it is woefully inadequate.
all images courtesy of the author
BLURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Adam McGovern | Ran Xia on BLACK CROW BELIEFS | Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons on LEFT-CORNER BRICK | Andrea Diaz on JOY IS RESISTANCE | Lynn Peril on TO THINE OWN SELF | Miranda Mellis on THE FUTURE IS PASSÉ | Bishakh Som on LET THE WEIRDNESS IN | Lucy Sante on FLAUBERT’S PERFECT WORD | Stefene Russell on CRYSTAL SETS | Crystal Durant on LIFE IS A BANQUET | Adam McGovern on EVERY MINUTE AN OCEAN | Josh Glenn on LUPUS LUPUM NON MORDET | Heather Quinlan on SHUT UP, HE EXPLAINED | Adrienne Crew on WATCH YOUR PENNIES | Art Wallace on COME ON AND GIVE A CHEER | Julia Lee Barclay-Morton on WILLIAM JAMES, UNADAPTED | Christopher-Rashee Stevenson on TO EACH HIS OWN | Nikhil Singh on ILLUMINATE OR DISSIPATE? | Mimi Lipson on CHEAP FOOD TASTES BETTER | Kahle Alford on NOT GONNA CRACK | Michele Carlo on YOU CAN’T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT | Marguerite Dabaie on WALKING ON WATER | Raymond Nat Turner on TRYIN’ AND TRANEIN’ | Bob Laine on WHEN YOU GROW UP | Fran Pado on THE SMILEY EMOJI | Deborah Wassertzug on PLACING YOUR BETS. PLUS: BLURB SERIES CODA by Lisa Levy.
JACK KIRBY PANELS | CAPTAIN KIRK SCENES | OLD-SCHOOL HIP HOP | TYPEFACES | NEW WAVE | SQUADS | PUNK | NEO-NOIR MOVIES | COMICS | SCI-FI MOVIES | SIDEKICKS | CARTOONS | TV DEATHS | COUNTRY | PROTO-PUNK | METAL | & more enthusiasms!