Artist Statements
Some things that may have informed my arts endeavor:
- I used to think it was important to have a secret. I no longer believe this.
- I was raised in an environment where fear dictated choices and decisoins.
- I am the son of a fearful mother and a father who had no positive male role models in his life. Both are loving in the ways that they can be.
- I am the father of two powerful daughters. I strive to model for them the wide-eyed, open-hearted life.
- I am not a scholar or a theorist.
- As a novelist and a poet, I think deeply and carefully about my work, my project.
- As a (self-taught) visual artist, I prefer to let my inner juvenile delinquent run the show. I don’t think about why I make the images I make. Instead I think about what’s next. I let the images lead me. My standards are pretty low (compared to what I hold myself to as a writer), and my fun-factor is really high.
- The masks are tricky. Hard to keep in place. Even harder to remove. Everything I paint or write may be a self-portrait. Or they may be pictures of (how I see) you. Is there a difference?
Past Statements
There are many, many things which cause me to wonder about the true essence our species. The word-painting of the bullfight scene in The Minotour Takes A Cigarette Break makes WTF even more to the point. And the crowd cheers?
Ahhhh, “word-painting.” Thank you sir. SS
I read Visits from the Drowned Girl in Feb 2017 while trying to taper myself off heroin. No other book in that house (not my house) could hold my attn. I don’t need m protagonists to be heroes, but I def got mad at Benny a few times for his inaction, and for that fucked up thing he does in the van while his girlfriend is asleep. But this book stuck with me…especially some of the more haunting scenes…that finger breaking scene…that motherfucking hipster shithead who made the Beautiful Girls S….. series. You’re really good at writing characters who feel real. And are awful. Good stuff.
Thanks much and much, Danny. I worked hard at making Benny a sympathetic character and his world real. I’m truly glad the book helped you through a tough time. Visits was my 2nd novel; they got progressively darker from two through four. My fifth was (at least by my standards) practically a love story. I think, I hope anyway, that I’m done writing in and about such dark people. But we’ll see. For now, I’m having so much fun with synths and banjos and noise that I may never write again.
Be well. Breathe deeply. Eat good. And best of luck with the next part of your journey.
Peace.
Steve