May 6 Update, Inspiration
So I get emails here and there and am always asked in interviews 'who are you inspired by?" Today Im going to share a little bit of , most of you Im sure know of or may have seen this artists work before. For me Simon has always been there, since my early days of development and trying to understand painting when it was a completely unknown language.... I would analyze painters trying to understand why certain decisions where made with color or layout, etc etc... then I came up on Simon's work and I think for the first time I was kinda thrown off, I saw things being done in his work that for me I couldn't understand the decisions... why a color was used here or there, and somehow it still made complete sense visually. I think I was shown examples first hand that as long as you are committed 100% to what you do, it can always be a slam dunk. Even in the face of all adversity( any current school of thought or normalcy). This shit might come off a little too philosophical for your average blog reader but all these things I saw in my early development years are equations that add up to what Im able to do today. Simon to my knowledge in 1991 was a very young painter still, with I believe only 3 or so years under his belt tops! This piece above is from someone who was only painting for 2 or 3 years! That stil blows my mind today... Now, for "Biz" this would be considered a very simplified panitng with a lot of the definition left in the shadow areas which to some art school teachers might say is a cop out, but I think from all the interviews Ive heard from Simon, he never tries to act like he's the best at the stuff he does... People have said "Biz Im terrible at drawing feet! Help me, what should I do? Ive tried and tried and tried and I just can't draw feet." Biz response -"put a boot on'm... If you suck at feet, don't do it, hide them in a shoe." I think when I heard the directness in that response, among a slew of other responses through the years as to his approach I think in 2012 I finally get an understanding to that unknown language of painting he was doing for me in 1991.... 21 years later I can finally look at his work and understand the reasons (still cant execute it) he chooses certain things, he shoots from the hip, doesn't question his choices and just rocks it.... he's also said "I don't put my colors together like the sky is blue, where's my blue tube of paint.. I just grab any color and use it." and "When you paint fast, you just reach for something and the less thought involved usually is the best choice. It's when you over think it when you make the wrong choice." I can relate to this now on many levels in my own work... When you are in the "zone" as some artists refer to it, your decision making is effortless and unplanned, only looking at the final results for your success or failure decision making... I find those who move at a snails pace, over thinking decisions and moving so fucking slow, these people's work be it a painting or someone's graffiti, or whatever puts me to fuckin' sleep.... The worst thing about these people is they will most likely spend the entirety of their lives working in this fashion, without even understanding the benefits of speed and gestural decision making... I take PRIDE in this lifestyle... I've even worked with people in the past in business where in their mind they believe that over thinking every damn decision or micro managing everything is some how the correct formula for doing things.... ZZZZZZZZ... I look back at them now, and think "See, you over thought yourself into bankruptcy... You shoulda' listened to me when I suggested whatever it was at those cross roads, when 99% of the time those things I suggested where an industry standard a year later, my ideas at that juncture where a year ahead of the curve, and we could've have reaped all that reward at being first! if we just acted instead of hesitating". Im getting away from my original post, but I think I've touched on an inspirational painter, to his type of decision making and how its effected my own successes, from the ways I form my own decisions in life, be it a design choice,when to act on something, just being whimsical etc etc.... Im thankful to be able to say Im on the team of shooting from the hip, as apposed to those types who spend wayyy too much time trying to meticulously over think everything to finding the right choice at getting through life's tough decisions...
What am I talking about? Who the hell knows... Let's get back on my original point... Here's a few other awesome pieces by the BIZ' for you to have some visual idea of who Im praising so highly.
This is just a minor selection of the amount of work this guy has accumulated over the last 25 plus years.. I could literally do this allday long, but should wrap it up at some point I guess... One of the most important things I always felt about this guy was that even in his early career of like 3 years on the scene his work was already matured in the fact that the style was already locked in and looked like he'd been doing the damn thing for 20 yrs straight, even when I took notice around 91', in my naive eyes I'd just assumed he was already in the game for 20 yrs, little did I know.... I've spent the last 20 some years trying to hone a genuine identity as an artist, to really get comfortable with my work, getting out all my kinks and all the bullshit... This guy was off to the races at day one! It's just crazy to me.. Im rambling again, but who reads this shit anyways right? I disabled comment responses years ago cuz' of spam, and took down the hit counter in like 2005, as far as Im concerned only a few die hards read my rants on here anyway, and it's turned into my place where I just vent about shit...
In closing I'l leave a few footsteps in the sand if anyone is interested in looking further into Simon Bisley's philosophies and of course his work. The info is out there if you dig for it. Lastly, if there is anyone who reads this and owns any of Simon;s work who is interested in selling or even trading for something of mine, drop me an email, let's work it out. Hit the contact button up top.
Here's another video, I think was cool because he actually also speaks on speed of working... I think my head exploded when I heard it come out of his mouth the things I had been thinking about when I do my lettering( graffiti) for about a decade now...
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