Influence Map

I wanted to highlight and discuss some of the artists that have inspired and influenced my from the very beginning to the present. I wanted to draw a map of the flow of influences I have encountered thru time. The map may or may not be the best way to present things - but it makes a good metaphor.

Along with the map I wanted to point out some of the reasons why these artists have been standouts and or the converse - why other artists have not stood out in comparison.

In my career and pre-career there have been certain points where I became very aware of some artists and very interested in doing what they did. Before that, I had a nonspecific art vocabulary that was not meant to look like any particular artists - but was meant to live in the same world as the art I knew around me. Comic book and comic strip art mostly.

There was a time when I was more a consumer and imitator of art than I am now. The same art that I desperately wanted more of when I was starting out has become - while still interesting in an abstract way - less interesting! I am now driven by a different craving. Harder to define... I want something and at this point I know what it isn't. It isn't more of the things I knew and loved. As I find it - I will try to link to it (if on the web) and shine the same light on it that I will try to shine on the influences I will be showing here. I want to live whatever it is I am craving. Make art that speaks to the craving. Says what I want to see (said)...