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I came across Richard Olmsted and was instantly astounded. He uses his ability with the pencil to create images
that reflect the urban life in a sometimes surreal, sometimes grotesque, yet always thought provoking way. Take a look at his work, and learn a little about him, he will go far. |
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"I would say some of my artistic influences would be Kathe Kollwitz,
Peter
Kuper, Eric Drooker, John Yates, The Beehive Collective, Robbie Conal,
and
aesthetically, Magritte, Dali, and H.R. Giger. |
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Less professionally I am influenced by every undercover artist who arms themselves with spray paint to combat billboards in the dead of night. Those who leave their heartfelt frustration painted on the faces of corporate strongholds. And the performance artists who dance through the teargas in the streets. Sometimes called vandals, I call them poets. |
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Their art will never be bought or sold. It cannot be commissioned and
it
won’t ever be confined to a museum, and that is beautiful. |
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I’m also influenced by authors Derrick Jensen, Daniel Quinn, George
Orwell,
John DeGraaf, Ward Churchill, Noam Chomsky, John Zerzan, and Howard
Zinn to
name a few. |
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I am influenced by so many strangers with good hearts who I have met
along
my travels.
I am influenced by every honest smile that was more than good
salesmanship. |
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| I’m influenced – In a rather different way – by rubber bullets and pepper spray. By the police who I watched beat up my friends. | |
| I’m influenced
by the
polluted air, the tainted water, and the dwindling biodiversity. I’m
influenced by the developers who are cutting down my back yard. I’m
influenced by the businessmen that systematically rob the worlds
resources,
the management that robs our creative energy, and the stress filled
dissociative social environment they have left us with. |
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Art is my first language. It gives me a voice to describe that which words cannot. I see so often that artists struggle to create something aesthetically attractive, to capture a sense of beauty. The question that I always ask myself however is what happens when the only remnants of this beauty are within the confines of a frame, or held hostage by a museum? |
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What
happens
when the rolling hills have turned to highways and the life of the
landscape
is an advertisement. When a piece of artwork no longer compliments the
beauty around us, but reminds us of all that we have lost? It is
for
this reason, that I have favored art as a tool, a weapon in this
world’s
defense, not only to reinvent beauty within a frame, but preserve the
beauty
outside the frame. And when the world is so fucking ugly, so might be
art. |
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| And for the facts… Lets see, I was born in 1983, I’m professionally unemployed, and I’m trying to keep it that way. I was born and raised in Mount Vernon Washington, a smaller town about an hour north of Seattle that faces the encroachment of industrialized civilization on a daily basis. I graduated from Mount Vernon High school, and I’m in my second year of college at Skagit Valley College as an Art major. Last quarter, I spent traveling around Europe staying mostly in squats (and under a few bridges), as an independent study of the intersection of art and politics in a counterculture network across the globe. The squats were amazing, and the people were inspiring. It was very refreshing." | |
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Make sure you check out his website, http://www.richardolmsted.com. thanks richard for an exceptional submission | |