Oh, Honest Me...

While looking through my Instagram inbox, I came across a week-old message from an art gallery inviting me to participate in an upcoming 'works on paper' exhibit.

Thankfully, I didn't receive the message too late, and still had time to check out the gallery online and find out more information about the exhibition.

After some quick deliberation, I submitted my application to participate, which included a space to write my artist's statement. Well, it's been awhile since I had to write one of those, but didn't take long to get one out. It said:

"Much of my work, lately, deals with me feeling overwhelmed with the notion of media and celebrity, how information often gets confused with knowledge and wisdom, and how non-stop targeted marketing and the promise of unrealistic wealth and success further drives my anxiety of trying to be a productive artist in a constantly changing atmosphere. The professional art world I entered into over ten years ago is not the same one that exists today, and through the aging popular culture images I construct, whether familiar or slightly obscure, I try to weave in and out of my visual surroundings, and do my best to spot some familiarity in an often unrecognizable, fast-paced landscape."

After reading back through, I didn't realize how honest the statement sounded, something I wasn't quite prepared for. I usually don't try to relay personal feelings when conjuring up artist statements, I've always been more 'deadpan' in my statements. But, this one was new and sounded good, authentic...for me, at least.

I have been second-guessing my work a lot these last few years, but mostly because of my dreaded burnout. Three years of feeling like toast is a long time away from the bigger art world, so trying to step back in where I left off is a very different experience. Anyhow, more on that later.