Just about everything triggers my imagination so in order to be selective; I let the material that is available to dictate what is it that I am going to create. If I get an idea and the first step toward the realization of that idea is to go and buy something, the idea is automatically postponed. If the urge to create something based on that idea is too strong to resist, I write it down, I draw it before I forget it. Most likely I already have the materials or something similar that will allow me to create the same idea but in a different medium. This explains why I see no difference between the arts, and why I could never be represented by anyone.
Artists who wish to make money out of their creativity, find themselves in the conundrum of working to express themselves or working to make money, most of the time they opt for working to make money in unrelated jobs and creating on weekends to satisfy their creative urges. I was fortunate that I did not have to sell anything in order to make a living. Commercial galleries could not represent me because I did not have a distinguishable style or theme. One day I was painting, the other I was sculpting, the day after I was weaving and the day after that I was making jewelry.
I started my artistic career as a paste up and mechanical man. When they needed a spot drawing I made it, now I was an illustrator. I order to make illustrations I had to photograph friends so I became a photographer. I had to shop for fashions to dress the models and set them in the proper environment, I became a fashion designer – set designer. I had to create props, back drops this led to interior designer which led to technical advisor for movies.
Thanks to my wife I could choose the jobs that interested me, and I could work for nothing if I wanted. While producers thought that they were abusing me, I transformed their foolish pride into a learning process while getting paid. Once I had learned the INS and out of a job the price for my services tripled, I was able to walk away from any job without fear of burning bridges.
As a child I used to ask my father to find me jobs for places where art was created. I worked summers for peanuts, doing menial jobs. I learned in those jobs the tricks of the trade from professionals, plus the discipline of working as a team toward a common goal. Part of the deal was that I would be invited to be present at meeting where they discussed the strategy of their operation. I was trained by my father to be invisible in a meeting.
My mission in life has been to observe, ask questions and learn as much as I could. Unfortunately mediocrity rules and the mediocre doesn’t like to share the little that they know. Artists who have one idea in a lifetime have to guard the secrets of that idea with their lives; it is indeed their life. I am not afraid of someone stealing one of my ideas because no one can do what I do better; they can only do it differently. If they can improve on something that I did I would be the first one to congratulate them. I would be proud to be the source of inspiration for someone’s masterpiece. I believe in sharing and learning, this explains why I despise censorship. When artists have to censor themselves, they limit their creativity; this prevents me from seeing what is inside of their heads. Self-censorship is slavery perfected.
If I had to choose one sculpture to represent me it would be the Mental Flaws Floss, (MFF). The MFF sculptures don’t make any statement and this makes them the perfect fund raising tool. It is the quintessential work of art; I have reinvented the blank canvas. The MFF eliminates the fear of criticism and proves that we are all born with an artistic ability to create. The idea that one could be born without an artistic ability is easily compared to the idea that we could be born without an ability to learn. Learning to create a MFF is as important as learning to write. I could teach anyone to make a MFF before they can learn how to write. Anyone could start making money as soon as they learn how to make a MFF. No one can start making money as soon as they learn how to write.
The Mental Flaws Floss legacy has been past on to Mr. Myeth, I hope that he can be more successful at finding someone to help him educate.
