D-E-F-E-A-T.

My work and my life are an amalgamation of media stimulation: researched, reorganized, and regurgitated. Being a child of the 90s, I was weened on television... which introduced me to generations past (mostly in the form of sitcoms). The books that I had access to at my home and various libraries were all old, filled with outdated information. I was intrigued by odd images- vintage visual vocabulary that did not translate due to content, design, and ageing. What interests me is largely due to the way information is presented: the great pyramids are just as captivating as dental hygiene if done correctly.

I consider the mid 90s to be the pinnacle of creative entertainment; it was the era that went, perhaps, too far. Most everything was marketed to the adolescent male- without regard for his parents. Gross-out cartoons (such as Ren and Stimpy) dominated Nickelodeon as well as MTV. Commercials made fun of adults: Bubble Tape went after the lunch lady, while Frosted Mini Wheats encouraged a rebellious attitude towards your family reunion. Toys were based on Rated-R movies and shot missiles... far! Grunge music filled the airwaves with apathetic ballads against high school, love, and your girlfriend's parents. It was a lost generation that realized the world was shit and only smiled when authority cringed at their freak-out art. Eventually, the protest expanded to include commercialization, and then it was over.

Upset parents convinced the FCC to enforce a TV rating system. MTV replaced cartoons with prime-time soaps. And politically charged music was killed by synthesized pop. The demographic became pre-teen girls, and corporations made billions overnight. The creative, angst-induced freak-out was over. But it wasn't just the death of imaginative 90s culture, but bizarrity in general. As long as there have been sitcoms, there were wacky premises: The Beverley Hillbillies, Mr. Ed, My Mother the Car, Mr. Smith (LOOK IT UP), Night Court, and so on. The networks wouldn't air a sitcom unless it focused around a non-traditional family: The Jeffersons, Diff'rent Strokes, The Golden Girls, Alf- for pete's sake! Today, TV consists of uninspired reality shows, generic cop, lawyer, and medical shows, and sitcoms featuring the formulaic bubbling dad, know-it-all mom, and their (almost invisible) 2.5 kids. The demographic shifted again to adults, particularly middle-aged women and their guilty pleasures. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.

The early 90s were all about me- the angst-ridden boy with an affinity towards the weird, violent and grotesque. Now, society is geared towards everything I was taught to hate. My artwork is a nostalgic reflection of my childhood: a quiet riot glorifying the golden age of mass-media.