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That guy (I don’t pretend to know his name) was a ‘visionary artist’ in the normal sense. His vision and communication skills were born unto him and effortlessly defied all traditional art ‘rules’. It seemed like it just poured right on to the screen, yet I know that each frame took considerable effort, skill and planning.

Did he build scale sets? Yeah, he had to – but I’m not sure really. Did he shoot real settings? Yeah it was obvious. Did he scour his town for goofy figurines? Obviously he did. Did he have a home studio to place and light the figures? Definitely he did, and that was the key, in my opinion.

His ability to quickly (crudely) composite his actors (figures) in to ‘real life’ scenes was uncanny. Somehow he maintained a consistent tone and perspective – both visually and emotionally across widely varied settings and pieces of work. His first few pieces ‘gave away’ some of his techniques and suffered from marginal photoshop skills. I studied them closely to try to understand and unravel his craft. I almost wish he never presented them, in a way. He quickly perfected a style that was unique, inspiring and consistent across the bulk of his work.

Once he achieved this level of presentation the craft of his art became tertiary and he began communicating freely and openly.

And that is when he ascended from just visionary art and attained ‘cultural relevance’. I won’t even attempt to describe it – its his gig and my words can only fail here. The main theme that spoke to me was of the isolated/aliented male in a modern urban setting. He explored and described this in depth and across many subjects.

A few parting quotes that I am going to have to paraphrase:

“Here comes Dufus McPaddleboat to molest your children”

{main character is retrieving lotion from the refrigerator in anticipation of a really good masturbation session} “Mhmmmm, the slide is chill, just like me”

{same character now frustrated that his pornography is too familiar to work anymore} “That’s right – Don’t actually put his penis in your mouth – put it right next to it instead”

It is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

David Urban