Having descended down into South Texas through the Hill Country one day long ago, Dick never claimed to be Texan, but his German heritage and love for tacos is something he shares with the inhabitants of the region. Having earned an MFA from Miami University, OH, he spent the worst years of his life up north, maturing artistically and refining an Iconoclasmatic Pop Art™ style shaped by his experiences as a recovering Catholic, cancer survivor and optimistic existentialist. He lives and works in his humble turquoise studio-home (Dick’s WurstHaus Art Shanty) near downtown San Antonio.
2013 • 58.5″ x 42″ acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets
The basic idea for this painting came from my Dad’s old quote about the nonsense people put up on television to distract us, “They’re just trying to sell soap.”
I wanted though to combine an individual’s state of mind with the reality of of the situation that I do in many of my works. When we consume the “news” we are giving ourselves over to “guilty diversions” but what they’re doing is offering up entertainment as a vehicle for the ad impressions upon which the business model is built.
The metaphors aren’t too tricky. I made this for a group show themed on our news media. This piece is a little bit more of an editorial cartoon than I usually do.
2013 • 42″ x 51″ acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel
It is often said that people with subversive ideas are more fun than those trying to maintain the status quo. Others, whose meritless influence may be waning, long for yesteryear, bemoaning the decline of morality in America, blinded to all the social injustices and high crime rates of the “good old days.”
This imagined decline in morals often coincides with the decline in power and influence of those on top of the plutocracy. “Decline of the Bourgeois” satirizes the notion that subversive cultural influences can lead us on a path of destruction when in reality it seems the most controversial subject matter keeps the zeitgeist trending toward greater empathy and acceptance.
2013 • 48″ x 18″ acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel
Throughout art history, seasonal themes have evoked not only death and resurrection and pagan imagery of classical antiquity that have continued to be a part of our seasonal holidays today. I this version, I have added some personal associations born of a neighbor who welcomed spring weather with a bare hairy torso, wandering the sidewalks with a highball in his hand.
Subjective associations are highlighted as well by the rubber spring symbols at his feet.
2013 • 48″ x 18″ acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel
This piece equates the pretentiousness, hypocrisy, collective denial, and hollow ostentatiousness satirized in the Hans Christian Andersen’s “Emperor’s New Clothes” with the phenomena of “speaking in tongues” in Christian churches. Like the townsfolk in the tale, believers play along with the pretense not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or stupid.
Wikipedia offered some insight into the satire of the classic story, saying it:
…quite clearly rehearses four contemporary controversies: the institution of a meritocratic civil service, the valuation of labor, the expansion of democratic power, and the appraisal of art.
Folk and fairy tale researcher Maria Tatar points out that Robbins indicates the swindling weavers are simply insisting that “the value of their labor be recognized apart from its material embodiment”, and notes that Robbins considers the ability of some in the tale to see the invisible cloth as “a successful enchantment”.
This could be a satire of modern art and consumerism in general. We all tend to suspend disbelief when we begin to accept the artificial worth of objects that have no intrinsic value…much like we have to be taught to appreciate the power of symbolic meaning in general or any specific religious doctrine.
The story and this piece represent a situation where “no one believes, but everyone believes that everyone else believes.”
2013 • 33″ x 42.5″ acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets
This is a second attempt at portraying the Buddha bottling up the extremes of good and evil, maintaining The Middle Way:
The Middle Way…implies a balanced approach to life and the regulation of one’s impulses and behavior, close to Aristotle’s idea of the “golden mean” whereby “every virtue is a mean between two extremes, each of which is a vice.
I added alliteration and food reference to make it even more fun. Incorporating the pepper imagery with the Buddha allow me to make this piece look like a product label or old sign graphic. Medium strength peppers reference the spicing up life with just a little kick but not enough to make your scalp sweat.
In philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, the golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. For example courage, a virtue, if taken to excess would manifest as recklessness and if deficient as cowardice.
Socrates teaches that a man “must know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible”.
2013 • 60″ x 33″ acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets
When tragedy happens, why do we find so many people thanking God that it wasn’t any worse? All of the credit – none of the blame? Good work if you can get it.
I’m not questioning God’s will, his power or even his existence with this piece. I’m questioning the egotistical belief that we have a gift giving invisible sky daddy and the shithead externalization of all blame towards the boogeymen from which He protects us. I may be comforting to a child to put a face on all the scary things that we can’t understand or control, but how can any adult settle for what is little different from the ignorant imaginings of scared cavemen explaining away the thunder.
We should take credit when you can, accept the blame when you must and get used to the fact that the universe doesn’t give a fuck about you.
2013 • 55″ x 33″ acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets
I have long had issues with to Chick-fil-a. First because in the early days, it was only available in malls, and fuck going to malls. Then I found out that they were not open on Sunday. Sunday is just an arbitrarily chosen day that is different than the day the Jews observed. Why even bother? Fuck them. They would have me not able to buy chicken on Sunday exactly as I can’t buy liquor. Only later did all that anti-gay legislation stuff come out. That was just the icing on the cake and not even the subject of this piece specifically.
Because I associate such irrational fundamentalism with the egocentric worship of a mythical, blonde haired, blue eyed, virgin born god-man from the middle east, I chose to show the Chick-fil-a mascot cow proselytizing this naive belief, similar to the done-to-death ads with childlike cow writing used to promote eating more chicken. And of course what do they do while selling us their version of Christianity? They offer waffle fries on the side.
2016 • 26″ x 20″ acrylic, spray paint, used fence pickets
Bathtub Mary, also known as Mary on the half shell is a simulated lawn grotto framing a small statue of the Virgin Mary and less often, other Roman Catholic figures.
While often constructed by upending an old bathtub and burying one end, similar designs have been factory produced.
Bathtub Madonnas are also a common sight in north-central Kentucky and southern Indiana [where I spent a vast majority of my years on earth]…an area that has historically been predominately Catholic. A drive down country roads…will provide ample sightings of these small shrines.
This is a theme that is very rich for me. Not only as a recovering Catholic but because of its association with the archetypal “virgin.” Jung’s ideas on the subject helped with the recognition of my propensity to project. The discovery and recognition of the negative effects this subconscious power can have was a big part in causing me to want to confront the power of Symbols in my work and in my life.
Below you can see older, less successful attempts to do this idea justice as I was finding my visual voice. Lady (1) was a during a time when I thought my use of materials could support my half assed illustration style. It wasn’t until later that I’d be better suited to mixing realistic elements with (better) illustration (see: Lesser of Two Evils).
Our Lady of the Lawn (1): 15″ x 12″ 2011
Lady (2) was even worse for different reasons. I was determined to include text in the pieces as a more prominent element. Mary in a bathtub screams for a vertical support. I think I may have tried this horizontal as a challenge.
I failed.
The thing sucks for too many other reasons to list but it did get me closer to the success you saw above. This is why you take a step back after you finish a piece and evaluate your success and failures. Most importantly watch and listen to how people react to things. If you believe in the basic idea, you can eventually make your way to a piece that is worthy of the brilliant concept behind it.
2013 • 53″ x 35.5″ acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets
I made this for a show celebrating the release of that awful new Wizard of Oz movie in the spring of 2013.
I love starting with a theme. In this case I researched the meanings and symbols in the original movie and the books it was based off of. Very much an allegory for the plight of farmers and factory workers, I starting thinking about all the reforms and subsidies that were put in place to ease the uncertainty of markets for Americas farmers and how over time they have been taken advantage of my larger and larger corporate factory farms.
Symbols and associations aren’t always “this equals that” in the mind of a writer or other creative person, but reading about these interpretations led me to my own associations about the book, the movie, their symbols and how people see the subjects they represent.
Interpretations vary, particularly on the lesser figures, but this will give the readers good reference points to begin their consideration of the matter. Was the symbolism consciously or subconsciously employed? We cannot know with certainty, nor does it really matter. What matters is that Baum understood the issues involved and employed them in Oz. Millions of Americans have seen Oz, generally several times. Knowingly or not, Oz has given us a key to understanding the solutions to the economic issues we face in our time if we could only accept that we have had the power to regain our bank-mortgaged homes all along.
Deadlines are great. They make me more productive than any creative itch possibly can. The trouble is that getting into a rush prevents me from stopping to really look at a piece as the idea is developed and guide it toward a more pleasing conclusion. The good news is that you now have a work that can be revisited and edited and made anew for the next show.
This is what I’m currently doing with “Our Lady of the Lawn” completed back in February 2013 for a show I had 3 weeks to prepare for.
“Lady of the Lawn” 2013
This is the initial draft from which I was working.
Perhaps the saturation of colors and differences in tones makes the digital sketch hold up better, but the final product had no well defined focal point. The flamingos rather than being benign plastic static guardians of our holy mother in her bathtub shrine, are competing visually with her, the focal point. I believe they have a role in a more symmetrical composition, but with this asymmetrical set up, they just make the whole thing lopsided.
Then there is the argument for simplicity. I have been advised to distill my imagery even more, to stop slowing people down with arcane, personal symbolism and feature more the imagery that supports the intended emotional focus of the piece. I’m not sure if I agree with that completely but it is something to consider. Do I force the additional kitsch value of the flamingos to highlight the absurdity of decorating your hard with shrines to a virginal vessel of God’s seed? Or, do I allow the angel and devil to express their distaste, the pilgrim gnomes and the typography do so nearly as effectively without knocking the composition off kilter?
I guess not.
Last night I started sanding off the flamingos. Then I realized the orientation of the text will need to be adjusted and perhaps the rays of light accentuated.
