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		About About what, exactly? Well, I’m glad you asked. Let’s get down to brass tacks because the rest of the site is so strange. So I’ll go about this based on discussions I have had, and questions I have been asked. So click a link and read yourself silly. About Technique About My Education About Teaching About “What the hell is this site for?” About the Theme of the Site About Love About Religion About That Thing on Your Neck About the Mysteries About “Are You Lying?” About Technique: I am frequently asked about my technique or techniques. To be honest I have no real set or consistent techniques. No recipes that follow forward into every piece. Every new project is a puzzle. This isn’t to say I go into each new project blindly. I come in with what I have found to be some fairly effective tools, many, many of them, and tinker until results turn the way I want. The most consistent “technique”, and the one that seems to be of most interest to others is I don’t use models or reference. On this point I have been in a few heated discussions, so let me clarify this a bit. I do study references such as people, light, shapes, textures, whatever catches my eye. Usually I set about trying to understand some sturdy principles. It has been suggested this is memorizing and I have a good memory, and though if this were true it would be fine, it is only partially true: I do have a pretty good memory. But when I draw from imagination it is not at all like memory, it is nothing I have memorized, but instead seems to be manipulating general variables I have come to know. Clear as mud isn’t it? [back to top] About My Education: Simply, I am self taught, though this description sounds silly and inaccurate, it conveys the general idea. This said, I should mention I was introduced to art immediately, as my mother is an excellent artist. She refused to teach me anything, however. She did not do this out of cruelty, or stinginess, she taught herself without it being environmental. She thought, and thinks, that it is most satisfying to discover and invent without being led. So as I was growing up she made sure I had supplies and plenty of time to futz around with them. As to any classes in school, I recall in middle school I received a “C” in art, and High School, my art teacher very kindly and directly informed me there was nothing she could teach me so I was to feel free to use the supplies however I liked. I don’t count these as education. And to be honest I don’t really like education. This doesn’t mean I don’t like knowledge or learning. It means I don’t like the technique of education which is leading into doctrinal ideas and practices (from e-duc, to lead out, related to such words as doctrine, and docile). Education seems a bit too restrictive and conventional to be any use. Learning is another thing entirely. [back to top] About Teaching: I do sometimes teach a few private classes here and there. And I have an interesting online forum where other artists and myself contribute lessons, references, and even some conceptual and theoretical discussions. Feel free to follow the link, and participate. http://groups.myspace.com/artistsstudio [back to top] About “What the hell is this site for?” Good question. Well it isn’t a sales site, and it isn’t an informative site, exactly. I guess it is just a place I can insert some memes and “zahirs” and inflict them on an unsuspecting public. I’m just flexing my muscles as eminence grise. [back to top] About the Theme of the Site: Sorry, I can’t just give that away. It’s a secret. Whether this secret is big or little, you’ll see at the end. Bet you’re wondering if I’m serious. Would I go through all this work on something little? The fact is, I might, but strangely “going through all the work” tends to transform little things. I will admit this, this site and the things in it are at the service of art, and art is no small, trivial, or luxuriant thing. It is my avowed purpose to, for a short while, and in a satisfying way, mess you up. If I’ve done well, it won’t be for a short while. [back to top] About Love: I’m sorry I can’t really help you out on this one. You’re gonna have to work that out on your own [back to top]. About Religion: It may have been noticed many of the paintings, some of my writing, and many of the symbols I use regard religion. I am not religious. I am a very skeptical agnostic. This said, I should also point out I am a history nerd, and especially religious history and even more especially comparative religions and mythology. These tend to color my fantasies, day dreams, and conjectures. [back to top] About That Thing on Your Neck: What “thing” on my neck? Is this like a spider or like a carbuncle ….please say a spider. [back to top] About the Mysteries: So I’ve mentioned mysteries and secrets. This probably seems shifty and worthy of a sneer. I know when I go to other silly sites, or read improbable articles, or watch any news program at all I am the first to sneer and begin usually undue in depth analysis, in part, for the pleasure of grinding some stupid claim or idea into dust. I certainly hope you will do me the courtesy of approaching my claims of mysteries and secrets with the same deep and sneering skepticism. I have said mystery, secret, and “treasure hunt” and I mean these. Whether these are mysteries that I have concocted, a secret that I have assembled and a treasure I have created and then buried, or whether they are venerable and of value outside of you and me is irrelevant. Just kidding. That is entirely relevant. I will say this: On this site are scattered clues, signals, and interrelated material, that if followed give over information of an alarming and mysterious sort. This site, along with showing my art, is designed to unfold and reveal a map through history and the stranger parts of the present. Please don’t get all spiritual on me now. Stay objective, don’t look for self help interpretations, leave Jung at the door if you please, and proceed methodically. Who, What, When, Where, Why, How will take you much further than poetic interpretations. Keep it simple, the puzzles and riddles are complex enough. Also, because I’m a jerk, there are red herrings, which may not be red herrings at the end (they just appear to early on the “map”). Take your time. Just Time. When you’re done, and we are sitting on a high rock overlooking an unexpected sight, we can talk and reminisce about many strange and exciting things. Bon Voyage. [back to top] About “Are You Lying?”: Sometimes. Not everything on this site is factual. Some of it is meant as demonstration, or entertainment, or fun or to disturb or move. That said, it is likely the things you may think are untrue are likely to be the most factual. I think it is very effective to place a banal and uninteresting lie, next to an outrageous, improbable fact. Just keep this in mind: “Just because this isn’t real, don’t think it’s not happening”- Peter Straub All in all, don’t worry. This isn’t a political site. I don’t want anything from you. I’m not looking to offer sermons, or religious dogmas. Think of it like this, you and I are just traveling the countryside having adventures. Though I made the countryside and the characters, I invite you to think about the whole thing however you like. [back to top]