OCMGS California Finish Fetish
Open Colored Monochromatic Groovy Screens
When I dive into a new idea, I expect it to flop, and flop it must. Failure is my guiding light. Bad stuff doesn’t just happen to us; it happens FOR us. Is that why the cowboys won? Or did they just look good failing? "Fail better." It appears five times in Beckett's 1983 story "Worstward Ho," the first of which goes like this: "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." The sentiment seems to resonate naturally with the mentality demanded by the world of tech startups, where nearly every venture ends in failure, but failure which may well contain the seeds of future success..” My escapades with the ostensibly colored monochromatic screens began with a grand miscommunication, steering me through a maze of bizarre “Eureka!” moments and quirky self-discoveries.
I ended up in Mumbai for a three-month job. Picture it: humid, chaotic, cows chucking the deuces in the middle of traffic. Daily writing exercises became my ritual, an experience in itself, birthing a screen series from the cocoon of cultural chaos. Observing the dance and duel between culture and nature, I tapped into the American dream's dark underbelly, that sticky mess of ideals and myths. Imagine the Cowboy vs. Indian saga on a Technicolor Big Screen. One lusts for bulldozed progress, the other vibes with Mother Nature.
I plunged deep, isolating youth movements worldwide using sharp, nasty techniques. My images, plucked from all over, became vivid, glossy screens with attitude. Picture this: vibrant screens that reflect, shadows recorded in stencil like a Banksy on a bender. Whether these youths were fighting for freedom, spurred by some unseen force, or just goofing off, the specifics didn’t matter. It was about capturing the dizzying spirit in a still frame. Their action, frozen, contrasted wonderfully with my chameleon screens - coated in finely milled glass powder, smooth as a baby's behind. ‘Doost’ I called it. No factory offered glass fine enough, so, screw it, I made my own, reflecting light like a disco ball on steroids.
In my cinematic endeavors, I crafted a screen matrix from retro to digital, dissecting how we're spoon-fed branded fluff disguised as entertainment. These screens weren’t just playing movies; they were statements, revelations, reflections of society and myself, yet speaking a universal tongue. Previously, my medium was brute—concrete and steel, each piece a spatial enigma. This messy quest for clarity among classrooms of youth led me down dark alleys and sunlit paths, all converging at the stark education systems reflecting society’s raw underbelly. Just glance at Instagram—images narrate sagas better than any classroom case study.
Traveling through third-world nations ignited an insatiable itch—a need to understand and disseminate, to be a vessel of awareness. Despite its apolitical stance, my work incites conversation, aiming to translate sheer freedom and adaptability into tangible symbols of progress. Future projects? Laser-etched acrylic feats, grandiose glass screens void of any subject—just color, reflection, and light melded in a California finish fetish.
I strive for the sublime, seeking to charm the beast in every observer, even if it’s just to evoke a curious scratch of the head and a puzzled, “What the hell is this?”
So dive in, let your mind wander, and dare to fail gloriously.
