Lou Reed Is No Longer With Us

         So the first thing I hear Sunday is "Lou Reed died early this morning…" on my radio alarm. Yes I get up at 3:30 a.m. certain days for work but Sunday morning is a different case, I still manage to sleep through my alarm. That however made me fully awake. 

Photo credit Yarl (Pawel Marynowski)

        I wish I could have met him, when you live in Los Angeles those possibilities are slightly higher. But that's not why I've decide to blog about this. Lou Reed was such a extraordinary example of how an artist should live their life and how being true to yourself benefits your art work.

       Going to more galleries, reading and talking to art dealers I've learned a lot, most importantly how crucial it is to know which artist did something first. Originality is a extremely important characteristic to have in artwork. You're not going to get anywhere making art that looks like someone else's work. I'm sure there are tons of artists out there that want to be ground breaking. They want to make something no ones seen before. It applies to music, fashion, filmmaking and writing. 

      I've gone to art school and seen it in other areas too- artists just conform to the mold of being an 'artist.' I remember starting art school and knowing guys that would shower regularly when they started (looked like they did), but a year into attending they're only showering once a month. Or girls growing out their arm pit hair. I know there's more examples, but my point is a lot of art students start art school and quickly do something to conform to the stereotypes up in there. Conforming to a stereotype is not going to help you if you want to make art work that's fresh, original and groundbreaking. It's like a habit, you have to be true to yourself. Unless your into torturing animals, get help and make horror films <--- You know what else there were at art school, a few ultra creepy looking guys. 

       Lou Reed was true to himself and he produced music that was way before his time because of that. There's no way around it, if you want to make good art you have to put a part of yourself in it, not the stuff you put on your resume or present on a first date; I mean demons, the ugly stuff. If there's any chance you want your art work to be ground breaking and blow people away- practice being true to yourself instead of conforming because your art work is a part of you. 

Joram Roukes

Photo credit Thinkspace Gallery

      Joram Roukes is a Dutch artist living in Groningen, Netherlands. His signature style is collage like with multiple styles meshed in a single work. I've read that he references the competitiveness in everyday life by having his subjects wear sports jerseys and his characters are inspired by inner city life.

    Joram is pretty young, only 30, his CV isn't a mile long and it isn't filed with accolades, he's just starting out his career, but when I look at his work I find myself having a large amount of respect for him.  I mean I look at Baldessari and have a lot of respect for how witty some of his artwork is or I have a lot of respect for John Cage's work because it's really innovative. But honestly the more I look at Joram Roukes' work the more I end up having the same amount of respect for him as I do for other art world titians. His work is just brilliant. I like that he named a show after a Smashing Pumkins album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness." He looks like a depressed guy.  

Photo credit Thinkspace Gallery

Alex Yanes New Works

Photo credit Thinkspace Gallery

Photo credit Thinkspace Gallery

           Hi again! I'm still waiting for my sequence to render in Premiere Pro. When I walked into the back gallery of Thinkspace I saw a friend and said "Hey," then I turned to my right, saw Alex Yanes' work and immediately said "Whoa." It's just so fresh and original. I don't want to write anymore about him other than that because I think my reaction says enough.  Never happened before. 

           

Photo credit Thinkspace  Gallery

Photo credit Thinkspace Gallery.

Drew Young Nostalgia

       I've always wanted to make art work that addresses really potent issues that arise in life and could happen in someone's life 500 years from now. I use symbolism to convey this, Drew Young artwork seems to also convey this in a very indirect but on the dot way, in other words- there's no mistaking the subject matter of his painting is deep and very meaningful or all consuming.   

Photo credit Thinkspace Gallery

           I love how complex it is. Complexity is one of my favorite characteristics in artwork. He's one artist that I would love to trade work with, God willing. 

    His work makes me think of songs, the ones that you put on repeat because it pertains to what you're going through; then years later that song comes on the radio and you're delivered a heavy dose of nostalgia. That's what his work makes me think of- when I used to be really depressed, many years ago. Sometimes when  so much time has gone by, the way my life used to be in the past seems very foreign. Maybe that's just weird. I'm weird so you probably don't know what I'm talking about. Young's work makes me feel nostalgia the way songs do. They remind me of when I was depressed. Depression can be like a train of thought going down an undisciplined path. The multiple images of people is reminiscent of thought pattens.  The pallet he's using also evokes melancholy. And the fact that most of the subjects are alone, usually when you're the most depressed you're alone. I think that's one of the things I love most about Drew Young's work- it evokes a feeling of nostalgia that I've only experienced with music, or songs rather.

      In a interview there's b roll of him having anxiety while saying under his breath "that made me seem like a cocky dick." I think you have the right to be cocky Drew.

Photo credit Thinkspace Gallery