If You Wanna Draw Maps

Being an artist of any kind is an obsessive kind of lifestyle. To many, it may seem like we’re wasting time, but we’re not. Artists (of every stripe) are consciously, or subconsciously, making something or thinking about making something. It’s a 24/7 type of life. There’s no on or off. Just tuned up or tuned down. Ask any artist, they’ll tell you. It’s an natural born fact.

In that vein, here are some of my recent daily doodles. I’ve been making a lot of these. Small pieces of the larger concept.

It’s a long way to the top, if you wanna draw maps.

LIES Brand Shirts

Look at me! I’m a model!

I only took 791 photos to get the three I used below. So exciting, but not as exciting as these t-shirts!

Shirts available here: https://www.loyaltylies.com/shop?category=Shirts

Support the LIES Brand. (AKA: my extensive, multi-media conceptual artwork habit)

The Loyalty Lies Project and the LIES Brand

Last month I launched a new project. The Loyalty Lies Project and the LIES brand.

https://www.loyaltylies.com

One way or another, like it or not, LIES and the need to ignore or investigate them play an ever-increasing role in our lives.

The LIES brand is not a reaction. It’s a response. This is my universal response to contemporary culture. Supporting the LIES brand is an acknowledgment that truth is in question at every moment about every subject. Yes, some LIES can be harmless and benign. More often LIES create deception as a means of manipulation. Over time, LIES become the institution. LIES are the tradition.

LIES continuously surround us. There will always be LIES, especially when loyalty above all else is the demand. Loyalty leads to LIES. What LIES have you believed today? What LIES have you repeated today? What LIES have you unknowingly spread? What LIES will you loyally support or perpetrate? What LIES will you doubt? What LIES will you destroy?

The LIES brand is a direct statement about the political and consumer culture we inhabit today. In our political culture, facts are continuously manipulated beyond recognition. In our consumer culture, manipulated facts are widely accepted and commonplace. Brand loyalty is what matters most.

Loyalty above all else will result in LIES of one kind or another.

At the moment I have shirts (2 colors), stickers (2 variations), and posters (8 different versions) for sale. Get yours today and tell your friends. Spread LIES.

LIES: THE BRAND FOR NOW

My Neighborhood Made National News

My neighborhood made national news.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3my55/these-racist-wuhan-plague-plaques-are-popping-up-around-atlanta?utm_source=vicenewsfacebook&fbclid=IwAR1_3eI5ARBYz1xF7pyyEr5BETybJwp0ys-EFApVluMBMMEJvcROCF6Q8-s

Probably because I’m an artist, but my first instinct here is to think that the person behind it is not a racist at all. Instead, they’re making a subversive statement about racism itself and our visceral responses to it.

It made you look, it made you think. That my friends…is why art kicks ass, regardless of what your emotional reaction may be.

R.I.P. John Baldessari

Earlier this month John Baldessari passed away. In my opinion, one of the greatest artists of all time. Most definitely a BIG inspiration to me. One of the few that opened my eyes like no other. For that, he was always a favorite. Rest in conceptual peace, Mr. Baldessari.

Look Into The Light

I was working on class preparations in my studio this morning when I noticed the sunlight highlighting a section of a collage I made many years ago. Robert Mitchum from The Night of the Hunter. There it is. Another valuable nugget from the mine. Something I can use, right now.

Sometimes it’s right in front of you. An idea. Sometimes it’s staring right at you. Not waiting to be seen, waiting to be revealed and placed in the hands of the creative process.

A Good (Not So Good) Idea

Here is the beginning of a new idea. To be continued…

#brettcalleoartist #1001meanings #conceptualart #notsogood #intheartstudio

LIES: Loyalty Above All Else

Loyalty above all else will result in lies of one kind or another.

My latest body of work is a series of posters promoting a brand called Lies. The slogan for the Lies brand is Loyalty Above All Else. This is an idea that was conceived and specifically made for the streets. This series is intentionally more straightforward than the non-sequitur based imagery I typically create.

These posters are intended to be a sign of the times. Direct statements about the culture we inhabit in 2017. They are statements that critique our political culture and consumer culture. This statement belongs on the street, not in a gallery.

In our political culture, facts are more often being manipulated beyond recognition. Beyond that we have a leader that doesn’t know how to lead. A man that values loyalty over honesty and integrity. In our consumer culture, manipulated facts are accepted and commonplace. Brand loyalty is what matters most.

At this point, the Loyalty Lies series includes 8 different posters that serve as advertisements promoting the Lies brand. The Lies brand logo comes in two versions (as seen in the first photograph). Background photos are my own (taken straight from my Instagram page). The future is wide open in regard to where this concept goes next.

Lies: Loyalty Above All Else.