Bootlegger Process

The problem I sometimes have with “Art” as a subject, juried, taught, labeled, official - is that it exudes some kind of need to be untouchable and valued by those in charge (of curation, sales etc). It is discouraged by diverting funding and attention to other subjects, and only celebrated posthumously or because of some accidental encounter with a person of influence. In all truth, creation is an entire language, religion, and safe haven that sounds and is manifested differently for anyone who explores it. Kelsey Brookes exposed a concept to me that while a piece doesn’t have to “make sense” in terms of WHAT it is, it should be accessible to anyone who wants to explore it - if not only because artists create based on what they have heard or seen or felt before. It’s nothing more than a process of constantly recalling something, stealing it from the depths of your mind, and hoping someone else hasn’t done exactly that before.

Art is thievery. Ideas are not original. But that doesn’t mean it should not be made. In High School, Kelsey Brookes appeared in a video that popped up on Youtube and I was immediately obsessed with his story and perspective. To make the long story short, he is a painter who was a microbiologist first. But he walked away from science and into art - with conviction and the infectious need to make. He was the first artist I had heard explain the meditation of art in words that didn’t seem corny, and the sheer coincidence of actually comprehending his detailed work in the Fibonacci Sequence in patterns captivated me. 

In this dynamic piece, similar to 'Vis(toxi)cous,' I wanted to create a fluid cacophony of colorful stimulation that bled the chemistry of Brookes. More than enough to draw attention, hypnotic to those who stare, and painful once you look away. The flow of movement from line to line was my effort to mimic the meditation of Kelsey Brookes without the calculation and precise mathematics he used to make his own. Being larger, it was time consuming, and mentally draining - but after each session of filling in line after line, I would have a sense of weightlessness from expending the tense energy I carry through Waking Life. It isn’t philosophical, or groundbreaking, or a masterpiece to make liberated lines - it is accessible and possible.