Beware of Blind Artist

8/12/2019 Beware of Blind Artist

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ANTHONY CRISAFULLI ART APPRECIATION

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Chad: Jack Kerouac!s #On the Road,$made a bigimpression on me. What I took away from it wasthat a couple of times throughout your life youought to have some big adventures that will reshape

how you see the world and how it in turn sees you.No matter how many books you read or movies yousee they don!t add up to one one hundredth of thevalue you derive from going to it, through it andreturning home as a new person.

Crisafulli: Are the tattoos part of this?

Chad: For the past 17 years I have been gettingtattooed. Each tattoo means something or standsfor something. They mark me like mile markers.Each demarcating an event, person or thought thatI consider a turning point in my life. So in somesense they signify a right of passage in a fairlyritualistic way.

Crisafulli: You often incorporate tattoo referencseand methodologies in your painting. Do theyfunction that way in your work as well?

Chad: It is more complicated than just a simple yes,

so sit down and I will try to lay it out with someclarity.

Chad: I!m going to put it all on the line here. Notbecause I want to but I don!t know how to explain itany way else. First, we need to clarify one thing: mypaintings are not me. If you want to think of them asskin then think of me as the tattoo artist. A personcomes to the an ink shop with something in mind.Something they saw before or an idea they had. Theperson doing the inking may have a few ideas of his

own and has mastered his aesthetic but the he doesnot have any real knowledge of what a person wantsor what is going on inside of their head until theyconsult each other. You can tell something about aperson from the tattoos that are already on them butpeople change.

"

The Revolution Is Coming, oil on canvas, 2008

When I set out to do a body of work I will stretchseveral canvases and let them hang around my studiofor a while. After a period of time one or anothercanvas will ask me to pay it some attention. Nowevery canvas is di&erent, just like every person thatcomes into a tattoo shop is di&erent. The only thingthat they all have in common is that they arevulnerable. Some canvases are big dreamers, some aresmart while others are immature.

Now because the only reference my blank canvaseshave are those that they either observed or learnedor stolen from my studio, that is how they seethemselves and the world around them. I collecteverything, old newspaper clippings, skateboards,cartoons, southern memorabilia, books, photos,movies and of course art. So all of this in'uences


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them. I suspect that if I collected butter'ies, somepiece would be in'uenced by them too. But theheck with butter'ies. Paintings also reject certainthings that they see. Sometimes they are down rightbiased and ill"rational and no matter how I try toeducate some of them they think they know better.I %nd that over the years the paintings from mystudio have changed. Maybe they are watching toomuch TV or listening to the wrong kind of music. Imean they were alwaysvulnerable, but theyused to be morespiritual.

Now when I talk tothe younger

generation they seemlike they are ruled bysuperstition ratherthan the faith. Thismay account fortheir obsession withritual and rights ofpassage. They don!tlook up to my herosand they are reallymissing out. I meanthey can!t evenbelieve in Popeyes!spinach. Instead, allthey want to do is topoke our trustedsailor and demoralizehis spirit. It!s theirlives. I am only anobserver. The otherday I caught severalun%nished paintingswatching one of those 2012 shows on the History

Channel and I though to myself, #No wonder whyyou all have been acting so strange. You have beenliving on a diet of Red Bull, and Medievalapocalyptic end of time %ction.$

When I confronted one about his attitude, she said,#You just don!t understand. I want to be loyal to

your old heros but what!s the point if the wholeworld is going to be destroyed by asteroids, orplanetary alignment, or the return of the antichristand the destruction of the Twin Towers and thefalling apart of the stock market is part of thiswhole thing. We are all vulnerable nowadays and itlooks hopeless. And it!s someone else!s fault.$

For the next day I felt strange and unclear when welooked at each other. I wanted to tell her that it is

not how you die thatmatters, but how youlive and that myheros taught methat. To get o&yourass, stop being atrauma junkie, being

vulnerable is part ofthe humancondition. Howabout turning o&thefunny box and makesomething better ofyourself than youpresently are. Noone is asking you tobe perfect of give upyour fetishes but wedo expect that you

make a contribution.Don!t becomeparalyzed by currentevents or by the factthat American isgoing through atough patch. It willall be o.k . and doyou know why?Because, we stand

for something.

Crisafulli: What do we stand for?

Chad: Humanity!

Salvation, Oil on Canvas, 2008


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INTERVIEW WITH A PAINTING

Dear Reader,

The following chapter is a departure from what youmight expect. I asked Chad Farris if I could talkdirectly to some of his paintings in order to get a betterperspective on their character and personality.

A. Crisafulli

Conversation with B-Mine

Chad: Sure, but there is a small problem, you don!treally speak the same language and that might makethem a little self"conscious.

Crisafulli: Could you sit with me while I talk to themand translate for them?

Chad: I think they would be %ne with that.

Crisafulli: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me.

B"Mine: Whatever douche bag.

Crisafulli: You don!t have to be so aggressive. I!m herto get to know you.

B"Mine: Yeah, I!ve hear that before. Every timesomeone says that they are here to get to know me, Iend up in debt, with 20 dollars for food, living on somfriend!s couch.

Chad: Well who!s fault is that?

B"Mine: Yours, you Putz!

Chad: Hey man, I don!t deserve that. I took care of yeven before you had a voice. Your not sucking me,fucking me or paying my bills.

B"Mine: And people wonder why I!m so fucked up. Iyour creator brought you into the world with that kiof attitude, what kind of an opinion of yourself woulyou have?

Chad: Crisafulli, you have to excuse B"Mine, he had

tough childhood.

Crisafulli: B"Mine, would you say you had a toughchildhood?

B!Mine, Oil on Canvas, 2005


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B"Mine: Every"time Chad would screw up he wouldtake it out on me and I was not alone. If one of hisrelationships fell apart, I bore the scars. He wouldcarve his inky soul onto my skin and trace his

nightmarish images and adolescent bullshit all over mybody.

Chad: You are over exaggerating. You picked up allthat shit on your own.

B"Mine: He always hated me.

Chad: Thats not true, I loved you like all my otherpaintings.

B"Mine: So, why did you keep trying to paint over myvoice, my words, my soul?

Chad: I was trying to re%ne your spirit.

B"Mine: What for? Were you embarrassed of me? WasI not good enough for you? Why did you try to makeyour demons, my demons? The black rabbit stillhaunts me and as much as I try to repress the past itkeeps seeping through.

Chad: It!s like that for all of us brother.

Conversation with: I Forget to Think About You Almost Every Day

Chad: It is so good to see you, Forget to Think. This isKyoukan Crisafulli.

Forget to Think: It is very nice to meet your Kyoukan.Can I get you something to drink?

Crisafulli: Supashi"bo Forget to Think, but I am %ne.How long has it been since you and Chad weretogether?

Forget to Think: It has been 4 years since we shared thesame home. We lived together till he gave me to MisutaTweed. Now I live with him and help him run his shop.Your Japanese is very good Kyoukan Crisafulli. Haveyou ever visited Japan?

Crisafulli: No, but I would like to someday. How didyou learn such good English?

I Forget to Think About You Almost Every Day, Oil on Canvas, 2005


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Forget to Think: Misuta Chad taught it to me eversince I was born. I also watched much of television.Have you seen The Price is Right? I miss MisutaBarker, he was such a generous man.

Crisafulli: Misu Forget to Think, I am told that youare very pleasant to the eye, so why do you turn awayfrom us?

Forget to Think: I can not look upon Misuta Chadwithout feeling grief and it would be wrong for me tofeel such sad love for him; now that I belong toMisuta Tweed.

Chad: I thought we were cool.

Forget to Think: You are cool Misuta Chad and I trymy best to forget to think about you almost every day.

Conversation with: Linger On

Crisafulli: Linger On, where are you going in such ahurry?

Linger On: I gett!n out of this place well the gett!nsstill good.

Crisafulli: Can we talk?

Linger On: If you want to walk, but I don!t have thetime to latty gad around. I already wasted too muchtime here.

Crisafulli: Why you leaving?

Linger On: Maybe I have a restless spirit or maybe Ijust just don!t belong here anymore.

Crisafulli: Or maybe you!re a coward.

Linger On: I aren!t no coward mister. Look what theydid to this place, They!ve destroyed it.

Crisafulli: What do you mean?

Linger On: Look around you, everyone of them is apunk. They don!t respect anything or anybody. Theyall want to be Jack the Knife. It!s a sickness I tell yaand I wasn!t drawn to be a doctor.

Crisafulli: So?

Linger On: So if Chad wouldn!t get rid of them, I!mnot going to hang around to watch the rest of thispainting destroyed. So did you get what you came

for?

Crisafulli: (I said nothing and watched him try towalk away and then turned my back. I guess I didn!thave the guts to watch him self"destruct.)

Linger On, Oil on Canvas, 2004


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Chad: O.K. everybody, can I have your attention.Crisafulli has been gracious enough to talk to us today.Can you please all quiet down and direct your

attention to him. He would like to...(Absorbed in theirown circumstances they continue to talk over eachother.)

Girl with Knife: Yeah, I cut o&his head. You gottaproblem with that? I!ll cut you too if you get any closer.

Instructor: You!re standingtoo close again Farris.Painting now a days is all

about...

Pissing Angle sings, #I peeon Jesus, pay me,$to theLong Ranger theme.

Girl Being Bound by Cop:Help!

The Three Monkeys:

(Monkey 1)I didn!t seeanything. (Monkey 2)Youdidn!t hear this from mebut Chad digs white trash.(Monkey 3)Stop sayingthat. (Monkey 2)Sayingwhat?

Her and His: Hey, I!m trying to get laid over here. Youguys are kind of a mood killer.

Girl with Knife: If I could reach you, I would stab youright in the ass.

Chad: Focus people! Our guest has a few questions foryou so if you would not mind. . .

Crisafulli: Why do you think you!re here? (Pause "Noone says a word.)Let me rephrase that. Whatin'uenced you when you came into being? (Still silence

looms in the air.)

Marilyn Manson: Welcome to the halfway house forthe disturbed. I don!t mean to be disrespectful but ourvoices are de%ned by shocking you. If you are notgoing to let yourself be appalled by us, then we don!t

know how to respond. Werepresent the new academywho openly parades their dirtylittle secrets for all to see,rather than hiding behind the

insincerity of muddylandscapes and proper society.To you this looks like chaos,but we are honest even if it ishard to look at and di*cult totake in all at one time

Monkey 3: Stop him! He!sdriving me crazy!

Monkey 2: He is so full ofhimself.

Monkey 1: He!s just an AliceCooper want to be.

Instructor: I prefer Kiss toboth of them. Maybe you canpaint a picture of Kiss next, sowe get some decent tunes in

this place.

Jesus: Does anybody have an umbrella? (They all laugh

and start to talk over each other once again.)

Chad: So what is this painting all about?

Crisafulli: Exactly what just happened.

Conversation with: Don't Stand So close to Me

Don"t Stand So Close to Me, Oil on Canvas, 2001


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Assignment: 4

You are to interview two works from any modernartist that we have not mentioned and present asmall intro as well as both interviews. This willrequire you to do some background reading on theartist so you understand his/her character. But

remember, as with Chad Farris, paintings do notalways re'ect the artist!s character. Sometimes theyre'ect other things. You will need to watch the two

videos that I have tagged on the %rst page of thischapter by Gladwell and Gilbert in order to gaininsight into this assignment. They are 18 minuteseach and truly a joy to watch.

Remember: each one of you are special and willbring much of yourself into these conversations andin the end you all will gain in wisdom.

Thank you for allowing me to write for you.

Professor Crisafulli

Due: March 24th 2010

Beware of Blind Artist

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