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$500 BUY!
SHAWN
WOLFE - SEATTLE, WA
Untitled
what's the
idea behind your dolls?
Your typical consumer. Green with envy. Eyes wide, dilated and watery... with
panic! An insecure, doughy target to be reviled, pitied and kicked at repeatedly.
Howling and seething with a WANT that oozes from his sickly pores, wreathing
his yellowy carcass and clinging embarassingly to his backside. Then... then,
the proud pink puff thrill of GETTING! Only to be soon followed by the shrunken
cool blue lonely vacant empty dark night of HAVING. And finally the custom-fitted
grave, into which he takes perhaps a gold tooth and little else. That's the
idea behind my dolls and behind many other things I make.
red vines
or twizzlers?
Those black
Panda licorice bars, actually. Thanks!
what contemporary
artists are you inspired by?
The list is probably endless, and they're not all contemporary I guess. I am
inspired *AND* discouraged (mostly the latter, sadly) by, in no order whatsoever, Paul
McCarthy, Espo, Peter
Max (not his current garbage but the early stuff), Guy
Peelleart, Pete Fowler, Jeff
Koons (although I haven't seen anything he's done in years, I still love
his old '80s stuff), Reas, Murakami, Warhol, Spoons, Arbito, Ashley
Bickerton, Clowes, Woodring, Syd
Mead, McFetridge, Michael
Leon, Junko
Mizuno, Hunter
Gatherer, Archer
Prewitt, Robert
Crumb, Vaughn
Bode, Gahan
Wilson, Chris
Ware, Paul
Rand, Milton Glaser (I've
been ripping him off a lot lately!), Eboy, David
Byrne (begrudgingly, I'm mostly just pissed that I didn't think of the
idea for his genius new book of Powerpoint art. Damn him! How'd he weasel into
this list??!) Tony Millionaire, Joost
Swarte, and gobs of others I can't think of at the moment.
last piece
of art acquired?
Tony
Millionaire original ("Sock Monkey" comic page)
tell the
audience what movie/book/album/website/tv show/magazine you love
that most people haven't seen/read/heard?
movie - "A
Face In The Crowd" (1957) directed by Elia Kazan, the famous McCarthy era
name-namer. It's the story of a down-and-out degenerate (Andy Griffith) who
rises to fame and fortune as a kind of corrupt megalomaniacal Will Rogers-type
named "Lonesome Rhodes". Patricia Neal plays the Dr. Frankenstein who creates
Rhodes, giving him his first shot at a hot microphone, then helping him to
the top of the Neilsons. Walter Matthau plays his disgruntled scriptwriter.
Tony Franciosa plays a mattress salesman who jumps on board as Griffith's smarmy
manager. Lee Remmick plays Griffith's stupid teenage wife. See also: "Hud" (Paul
Newman), "Broadway
Danny Rose" (Woody Allen), "Putney
Swope" (Robert Downey Sr.), "Salesman" and "Grey
Gardens" (The Maysles Brothers)
book - "Ubik",
by Phillip K. Dick (1969) -- Incredibly cool and funny sci-fi tale
about psychic double-crossing detectives who are plagued by a time-eroding
life-sapping product called Ubik. Very pop-arty. Coin-operated
doors inside people's apartments. It would make a fantastic movie.
ALSO: "The
Painted Word", by Tom Wolfe (1975) -- If you only ever read
one book about modern art, and you've only got a couple hours to
read the entire thing, you could do worse than this little gem.
Seems I read it about once a year or so. I'm trying to commit it
to memory, I think. Chase that down with "From
Bauhaus To Our House" (1981) for more of Wolfe's brilliant
wit and insights into modern architecture. It's dated a little
bit by now, but not really. It's still a great read. "Entropy",
by Jeremy Rifkin. It's about how all matter and energy go from
a useable to an unuseable state. Always. Forever. It's a gospel
of doom. All of Rifkin's
books ("Time Wars", "Algeny", "Bioshpere Politics", "Beyond
Beef", "The End Of Work", "The Hyrdogen Economy", "Age Of Access" "The
Biotech Century", etc.) are grist for the mill if you're a misanthrope
at heart. Pure chewing satisfaction. Enjoy.
album - currently
in rotation: GLC
- "Goldie Lookin' Chain" [Bootleg], The
Deal - "Goodbye September", Dear
John Letters - "Stories Of Our Lives", Gorky's
Zygotic Mynci - "How I Long To Feel That Summer In My Heart", The
Move - "The Very Best Of", The
Feelies - "Crazy Rhythms", Buggles
- "Adventures In Modern Recording", Long
Winters - "When I Pretend To Fall", Alice
Cooper - "Flush The Fashion", Bill
Fox - "Transit Byzantium", Malcom
McLaren - "Duck Rock", Klaatu
- "Hope", The
dB's - "Repercussion"
website -
http://www.limmy.com/
http://theimaginaryworld.com/page4.html
http://www.chax.net/frameset.html
http://reelradio.com/
http://www.diekobiscz.2on.org/
http://smallsourmind.com/
tv show - Green
Acres
magazine - Hermenaut (are
they still even around?)
how did you
get to where you are now?
equal measures of blind faith, dumb luck, spite, compromise & good cheer
favorite
place in your town?
The view of Lake Union from I-5 south at sunset, but that's not really place,
more of a pretty view. If I had some rich friends with cute little sail boats
I'd just say "on Lake Union at sunset". But alas I do not. How about Safeco
Field? No. I really miss 15th Avenue since we moved off of Capitol Hill back
in May, but that's not to say it's my favorite place in town. Actually my favorite
place in town is our home. That and the internet. Seattle has no shortage of
nice places, but after 13 years here I'm not as enamored with any of them like
I once was. At home I've got all the comforts a fellow could want, a view of
the Cascades, animals, my studio, TV. Wow. I think I'll stay!
favorite place
in the world?
Tokyo. It's the closest you can come to visiting an advanced civilization without
actually leaving the Earth. I love New York City quite a lot, but I don't make
it back there very often. And Ohio (my home) in the summer. If you've never
been to Cedar Point (on Lake Erie) and enjoy a good roller coaster ride with
a sparkling view of the water I highly recommend it. I visited Paris and London
many years ago but I don't remember much about them. Are they nice?
i would not
be an artist if it were not ______?
my shortcomings as a musician
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