Going nowhere, writing letters to nobody
the muted cries of a 21st century person
As we leave the first decade of the 21st century behind us, what is the century beginning to shape into?; what is the story beginning to look like? The story of the 20th century possibly started in 1914, with the first world war; will this century's changing moment happen so soon in its early teens? Perhaps this century is going to be our (humanity's) most turbulent ever. My, originally rather large amount, of hope and sentiment, carried from my youth, has been all but erased in this first decade of the new millennia. As a relatively unheard of artist, my concerns about the planet and my future upon it, much outweigh my opportunities to share and discuss them, and because I am disinterested in 'careers' this is likely to remain unchanged.
When I am not making art or writing my ideas, my life, from the perspective of others, possibly seems utterly pointless. I go places on trains and buses, walk quite long distances to places, to do little, in regards of reasons to why people usually do go places. People see me walking and later ask "where the hell were you going!??" or if they see me in a city "what are you doing here?!?". I never have an answer which could be accepted as worthwhile, because I'm not there to shop, see friends, or visit tourist attractions. I'm there, simply because I am there. Aside from my creative pursuits, I have no reason to life. The thing is, I don't believe that occupying ones life with such things as shopping, visiting tourist attractions, going to shows, has any more purpose either! at least not in a consumer society as hell bent as this one currently is.
Consumerism has destroyed all real purpose because it has destroyed all values except that of money, so nothing else but spending, making money and materialistic success has any point to it. The thing is this is also destroying the planet - and our chances of survival. This is a double hammer blow, and I probably would have been a solitary meanderer without both, but now I am an eternal meanderer; looking for a way out - an exit.The subtitle 'The muted cries of a 21st century person' is written as such because I do not believe that my concerns - the issues buzzing around in my skull - are much different to anybody else's. Maybe I'm just disturbed by the alarm bells? This book is essentially writings from my solitary travelling around the land, by train, bus and foot. I've been desperatley wanting to change this, because, even if humanity is in for a tough tough ride, I still believe those when they tell me that I still have to enjoy life - I just wish it was this easy. The writings in this book were my attempt to change all this, amidst the confusion and the media-bombardment of the modern world. I have to find my way.
The Tide Of Society
2010
Everything I have done as, in some way, been a fight against a conformity to something, which, deep-down, I knew would kill me.
The sobering and unexpected world, I began to see around me at the beginning of this new millennium, made me desperate for a sense of self. This has meant that the last ten years of my life (the first ten years of the millennium) has been a struggle to swim upstream. It has been essential for me to try and re-gain a sense of self amidst the barrage of mass persuasion from social, environmental sources and, more essentially, from the ruling ideology’s media bombardment.
This book is intended to be part of the exhibition the tide of society – a series of paintings and drawings dealing with similar issues to this short book. It is a small collection of essay/rants (more rantish than essayish) about the hardship of trying to swim upstream against the voices of society, pulling you in a impersonal direction, and also the dangers of following this current Consumer Capitalist tide in a world of drying up resources and looming catastrophic climate change.