Rhinos and pickles.

I'ts never about the Rhino.

Hmm, I don't know how to lead into this, but I've been looking at a lot of photography of Tribes in Africa for the totally shallow reason that they're stylin? They're pretty? But all those examples of colorful body painting, woven textiles and interesting body modification are in these books that are surprisingly old-school about how they portray people. In that they portray the people of africa not as people but as animals or a "species" that can become endangered. It's really wierd but like they'll have a picture of these kids "stampeding" or of a girl grinning wide with a camel behind her, and because she has a gap between her teeth and the camel has a gap between it's teeth they are suddenly the same thing? They don't have sex they "mate" etc. etc. 

It happens elsewhere too, obvious example: The Lion King and that new movie coming out, AFRICAN CATS! Africa doesn't have people, only singing lions haha

I mean, I can't talk. My sketchbook is full of blackface babies and fictional tribe people. The more I learn about all this kind of negative imagery the more I want to incorporate it into my work, just because it's sometimes so seductive in how it ungulates between benign and scarring.

Plus it makes me feel naughty, there is that.

Gettin messy, takin names

Apparenly I like drawing people touching their faces. Now that I think about it I touch my face a lot. 

Notice tumblr avatar in upper left hand image, saame. Also the same as that one king print from awhile back. Fixated, only want to draw gnarly hands and squished faces.

Also I've decided to stop being such a neurotic pussy and just MAKE THE GODDANG ART. If that means I have to be a slob, then dang-nabbit I'll be the best slob you ever did see.

OH YOU FANCY HUH?

Oh, and I bought these pants and am a little over excited about them.

The American Apparel pose comes free with purchase.

Now that I have the fancy tumblr, It seems okay to share with you more trivial things. BUT DANG, look at how glorious these are! They are definately a work of art worth admiring.

Whoa.

Breakthrough! (And wow, low cut top lol)

HOLY MOTHER OF GOD MY BRAIN JUST EXPLODED! I know what I want to do after undergrad! I know what I want to study, I KNOW OMG I KNOW! So in practice I'm an illustrator and obsessed with images but have trouble sticking to the ideologies of print arts and more modern conceptualizing thats so in vogue and know that I'd be totally discontent just blindly following one art practice, because I'm on the fence about illustration as a boxed artform and the formlessness of contemperary art. Whenever someone tries to force an artistic truth It's hard not to see the holes in it, the self congratulatory tone of art critiqe and the necessary exclusion of people that's necessary to artifically produce an art economy. This art lecture course has really opened my eyes to how art now belongs to those who are able to argue their ideas the best and overpower the less articulate. Which means more talk, less art. Aka (derp!) politics? WHAA?!

Containing excitement.

It's basic powerplays. Idk, oh my god, I don't want to be stuck in that swamp, I want to study it. How do images change us, how has it been used historically to control people as a whole, how it's being used now, how it shapes racial/ sexual/ collective identity etc. etc.

This is hella rambly, and makes no sense, but for some reason I feel like I've hit something important, something that I've kept overlooking.

Visual Artist by day, Vigilante Art Historian by Night! Huzzah!! (Or maybe the other way around haha)

Done and back to work!

Possible program?

Reinventing the wheel.

Look what change in medium did! (above)

Bought a sketchbook and am practicing. Because that's what I need, practice, not just technically but practice being able to pick out what I like about how I work, what imagery I'm comfortable with and just getting over the fear of making something ugly. Basically am practicing BEING PRODUCTIVE. Also it's important that I just get more focused and precise for work. 

It's very wierd, actually, what you can discover and feel when you're drawing. For me I've noticed that there's different gears I fall into, theres slow and layered, there's the sort of practiced cartoony and then theres the richocheting around where the drawings are about to shake apart. The goal is to eventually be able to start utilizing how I draw in finished pieces, especially the shaky bit and let go of the idea that my work, illustration or otherwise is ever going to fit in anywhere.

Thanks for listening guys, fun stuff coming up, I'm making a Spring mixtape!

Tanned

Just Playing.