L.A. Art Show

[Music] 00:04 great art is making the wonder of the 00:07 world manifest I think it has always 00:09 been the most important thing I mean 00:11 I've got a world without art I would 00:12 just shrivel up and die la is a real 00:18 emergent I see now it's changing your 00:20 lives it's really becoming a creative 00:23 hub for artists and you have all the 00:25 stars here as well and directors that by 00:28 are you've really got to go where art is 00:30 where there's twenty thirty thousand 00:32 people going to see art well I'm a 00:34 really quiet private person that's how I 00:37 think I am but once something goes on 00:39 show I feel kind of transformed and 00:42 you're thinking about the relationship 00:44 with the work to the people that are 00:45 coming to look at it it's somehow really 00:47 strange to see that that work is gone 00:49 and having a life of its own 00:51 you know I know it intimately I'm 00:53 usually by myself and just doing my work 00:55 a couple times a year 00:57 I have these shows and it's a great 00:59 opportunity for me to interact with 01:01 people but short doses and then I like 01:03 to kind of get back to my little cocoon 01:04 and just you know do my work I spent 01:07 nine months for my twenty seven fish 01:10 some like an obsession the face of the 01:13 people what they think about my art and 01:15 this is my pay I love it I love it it's 01:18 a very very big exposure for me these 01:20 are all New York City parking meters 01:22 that I've up cycled into public art 01:25 everyone walks by and I like the fact 01:28 that they smile when they see it because 01:31 it's kind of like a surprise is 01:32 everyone's kind of almost numb you see 01:35 so many things here at a show and then 01:37 they're like oh they kind of wake up the 01:39 age of social media where everything is 01:40 just swiping an image and to actually 01:42 smell the pain and to want to touch it 01:45 limors because it looks like a giant ice 01:47 cream there's that physicality of the 01:49 pain and I think you people are coming 01:50 back to that warning more of a raw 01:52 experience of are I used to go to bed 01:54 and I used to look at a Matisse poster 01:56 on my bedroom wall and they used to just 01:58 stare at it and stare at night after 02:00 night year after year and I just loved 02:02 it the color the pattern it imprinted 02:05 itself in my soul and 95% of my brain is 02:10 taken up with 02:10 visual images this it's like that's what 02:13 is that that's yeah so I grew up 02:15 surrounded by southern and Appalachian 02:18 folk and outsider artists and you know 02:19 and I grew up in an art studio around 02:21 folk art it's all that I'm this is all 02:23 that I know there's certain aspects of 02:26 life that I have zero interest in 02:27 knowing about I haven't gotten a 02:29 driver's license in five years but I can 02:31 tell you all kinds of about all 02:32 kinds of other things I've had like so 02:34 many jobs work with so many people and 02:36 it's like I never want to go back do 02:38 that this is way better 02:39 it sounded like a therapy I got my own 02:42 Disneyland in my head when I make a 02:44 character or a piece or something 02:46 functional and I feel very very happy 02:49 yeah and I'm very happy I don't need 02:51 more I just really want whatever I 02:54 create to be a reflection of that moment 02:56 in that time I'm trying to be an artist 02:58 of today of what today looks like 03:00 oftentimes I do my best work but I'm 03:02 supposed to be like getting ready to go 03:04 to a wedding or something it's like you 03:05 know we're gonna be an hour let you know 03:06 hurry this like open I'm feeling 03:09 something now I'm putting stuff together 03:10 we're gonna have to be a little bit late 03:11 or whatever so invariably when I'm right 03:13 up on something that's when the the 03:15 creativity hits it's a lot of work I 03:17 mean it's it's long days long weekends 03:21 not a lot of human contact just like 03:23 really trying to do this and make this 03:25 right like every job it's a hard job you 03:29 know there's no even though we've got a 03:30 list beauty around us to say we don't 03:33 sell any pictures despair it's really 03:36 hard because I know they've got kids and 03:38 school fees and everything so it's a 03:41 there's always a burden of 03:42 responsibility but it's I wouldn't swap 03:45 it for anything you really need to take 03:46 a long hard look at like whether or not 03:48 you really understand what it means to 03:50 actually be professional at this because 03:52 this is probably one of the most 03:53 difficult professions most other 03:55 professions might be demanding in terms 03:57 of time and all I stopped it to actually 03:59 be able to pull this off and be able to 04:02 pull it off for a number of years and be 04:03 consistent your whole life with this is 04:05 like mission impossible think 04:06 about how you're gonna make money think 04:08 about how you're going to make a living 04:09 from it and talk to a lot of your 04:11 friends and talk to a lot of older 04:13 artists good piece of advice is what 04:16 Andy Warhol's mother gave to him with 04:18 just paint what you like and you see a 04:20 lot of other people that are imitating 04:22 him and Slyke you should paint what you 04:23 like you know that's what made him 04:25 unique and I did that same sort of thing 04:27 I paint things that I like be genuine 04:30 and what you're trying to say no copy 04:31 what other people have already done be 04:32 prepared to fail otherwise you'll never 04:34 come out of anything original if you're 04:35 not prepared to fail and then worry 04:37 about being signed by galleries there'll 04:39 come a time when you just find your 04:40 knees you know because odd there's no 04:42 formula to art art is so subjective and 04:45 non formal a figure out something that's 04:48 just different than what everybody else 04:49 is doing I never did sculpting or 04:52 model-making so I had to teach myself a 04:55 new craft in order to kind of like get 04:58 ahead so reinvent yourself you better be 05:00 prepared to do anything that it takes 05:01 you know because that's what it's going 05:03 to take most of the time unless you got 05:05 parents just pay for everything for you 05:06 and that's another aspect of this too 05:08 but nobody wants to be that person good 05:10 art needs to get you here in the solar 05:12 plexus which is the part of your body 05:14 where you it's like an involuntary thing 05:17 it's not your mind it's not your heart 05:18 it's like almost your breath it's very 05:21 hard to find people that are original I 05:23 like people that are not following 05:25 fashion not doing something that 05:26 everyone else is doing if you are good 05:28 you will get noticed and you know it 05:31 might not happen this year or next year 05:34 but take a long breath and look at the 05:36 long term and think when I'm 70 what 05:39 will my legacy be and don't think it all 05:42 has to happen overnight slow and steady 05:44 wins the race and when we're all dead 05:47 what will really live on is the 05:48 paintings so it's worth making a good 05:51 painting and spending time to do it 05:54