Before I proceed in sharing the good news of my recently acquired good fortune, I would like to take a moment to recount a brief history of the development of HEY APATHY! in order to best contextualize this new point of interest. I had, up until the garbage strike of 2009, been working fulltime as a professional street artist and performer. I spent five years practicing my comic book styles and stories in full public and interactive view. The time spent drawing in the downtown core is and quite possibly always will be remembered as the best times of my life.
However due to the aforementioned political pollutant which ransacked our sidewalks throughout the busker season last year, I was forced off of the streets and had to discover new ways to present the mythology. As things progressed I I booked numerous festivals became increasingly adept at utilizing the computer, quickly discovering many new exhibition opportunities. The transition has been a fairly smooth one, and while I will still do a minimal amount of street painting I have gotten a lot farther a lot faster in terms of both my technical and communicative processes since returning to the studio environment. Primarily exemplified by the production of full length graphic novels which could not be completed on the street.
One of the primary differences and difficulties of the transition has been the necessity to express my verbal narrations, so successfully concurred on the pavement, into written words. As it were, I had not written a word in the five years as a public performer nor had I a moments rest in which to read the words of others, so the task of playing author has been entirely experimental to me. ( Which is why I blather so much on this blog, in the namesake of practice!!!) Fortunately, as seems to be the case in each of my crazy assertions, the experiments have begun to pay off.
Yesterday I received notice that I have been awarded a considerable sum of money by the Ontario Arts Council to used to further the experimental mythos I call HEY APATHY! What to me seems more exciting than even the fiscal reward, is the fact that the decision depended so heavily on the 500 word essay which I composed as part of the application package. Therefore I can only assume that I am making process with this new (but very old) art form and have chosen the right path to continually excel in my endeavours. Simultaneously of interest is the fact that the proposal requested finances intended to aid in the creation of an unusual animation based on the comic works. This animation, like the books, requires attention that cannot be achieved in the streets, and has the potential to share the narratives to the broadest of audiences.
In celebration of this fine occasion and epoch I would like to share with you my first award winning essay in hopes that there will be many, many, many more!
"A PUBLIC PROCESS" by Mike Parsons
“HEY APATHY!” is an ongoing artistic investigation into the city , people, and existence in general. In the initial ink drawings the metropolis is revealed as an ominous gear, propelled by an endless sea of faceless denizens. In recent artworks, the city remains a giant gear, only now it is all the different kinds of people, not anonymous cogs, who fuel the machine. In order to achieve such realisations I developed a particular artists process involving public interventions, exhibitions, street performances and ultimately new media installations. I combine the use of fine artworks, merchandising, and multi-media technology, in hopes of inciting dialogue and provoking change. For my next project I intend to express the unique findings of my anthropological experiments through the creation of a one of a kind, hand drawn animation. The importance of this artwork will be examined through a brief analysis of my artistic intentions, the technical relevance, and the cultural significance of the proposed artwork.
The pursuit of edification, “HEY APATHY!“ aims to develop artworks of social importance as a vehicle for instigating mass dialogue. To achieve such aspirations, it became necessary to externalize my inquiries by means of an “unconventional interview”. The plan being to immerse myself publicly in an attempt to answer the questions: “WHAT IS THE CITY?” & “WHO ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE?” I have since executed the “interview” through numerous pedestrian presentations and public interactions. Each intervention has permitted an immediate dialogue with insurmountable amounts of people. As a result the investigation has led to increasingly intricate discoveries about architecture and others, and ultimately more accessible artworks. Today the experiment is primarily concerned with the creation of drawings that are simultaneously intellectually provocative as well as accessible to children.
Through out the entire project, a trend of increasingly new media presentations has evolved. For the proposed animation I intend to re-examine my combination of art and pop culture, by creating a unique and socially significant installation. The animation will be presented as a “Living Painting” flat-screen , exclusively designed for gallery display. The technical process will differ drastically from the “Cell” or “After-Effects” industry standard. Using the research, craftsmanship, and methods of presentation associated with fine artworks, I will assimilate the popular technology necessary to discuss humanist topics of great concern by means of an abstract , yet accessible, language.
A fine balance of global issues and playful optimism is apparent in all of my artworks, an invaluable technique in the alchemy of connecting with both the public and the intellectual. In this constituently technological age, it has become second nature for the artist to adopt, infiltrate and subvert the mainstream. To an artist interested in mass communication, the probabilities of new media exploration facilitate necessity. The proposed animation will critique and subvert popular media, compare, contrast, and combine classical and commercial art forms, and most importantly, invite younger audiences into an alternative stream of communication. Potentially a pinnacle achievement in my aggressive attempt to reconfigure pop, art, technology, and self.
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