Mugshot

My new art show entitled MUGSHOT being created, images of the finished work. Beautiful music by the amazing and CRAZY Lee Scratch Perry! Hell yeah!
During this video I am painting the background for what will become the last painting shown. Scaffolding. All that time spent painting those buildings and almost none of it shows up now. But then again I could never have come up with the vibrant stuff peeking through so it's all good.



BONUS FEATURES: ;)
I wanted to share a little bit about this show since it is a transposition away from the style I have worked very hard to establish over these last ten years or so. (Not that I am abandoning my current style. By no means. But this is a separate vein I intend to explore further.)

During the two months of painting for this specific show, with each piece I felt the control slip away from my fingers. (And I see that as a good thing.) With much of my illustration style, I am bound by the artistic techniques and "laws" of realistic painting. But by the end of this process I was seeing a completely new style emerge; One that did not require accurate depiction, lighting, perspective... Oddly, it is not truly new, as it reminds me very much of the kind of art I did in High School without giving it much thought at the time. (who knows? the more things change the more they stay the same!)

The subject matter for this show came from a photo I saw online. There was some buzz about the Nassau County Sheriff releasing the mug shots of people who had been arrested onto the internet. After all, these photos are public record, but the ACLU and others felt that it was unfair since nobody who is arrested is guilty until proved so in a court of law. They were simply arrested. Anyway, I was looking at this site for some reason and I got stuck on an image of an older man. His eyes were so full of something. Not sadness. Not guilt. I don't know what it was. All I know is that it is was so similar to looks I see from people staring across the aisle in the grocery store or driving in traffic. It made me realize how our society divides people into two general categories. Normal people and everyone else. (And there are endless ways to categorize people into the not normal box.) Obviously, the problem with this is that if you look deep enough, long enough, you will find that there are no normal people. We all have pain, sickness, guilt, regret, sadness, all this weight that brings us low, regardless of how well we disguise it.

My portraits have always been a glorification of the humanity in my subjects. I have painted hundred of portraits, many never even making it to my website or archives. But they were always prominent or beloved figures for whatever reason. Musicians, historical icons, Obama! You know? People who "deserve" to be portrayed. In this show I wanted to give that attention to these people who were in the midst of some real bad days. The outcasts of our society. (Mind you, I did not paint serial killers or anything. These are all fairly mild offenses.) I did not set out to "make art" about convicts just to be artsy. I would have to kick my own ass if I tried to pull something like that. I just wanted to convey beauty and sadness and glory and life through paint.

To further complicate the issue in my mind, I kept thinking about people I know who are or were locked up. Some come out and try to feed their family. Some seem like they cant wait to get back in. Some are able to cast it off, though most of the time this requires that you are a celebrity or rich or win Nobel Peace Prizes. From prison to President for Nelson Mandela. From being arrested in cities all across the south to having days and streets named after him in Dr. King's case. Mug shot to big shot for Bill Gates. Back of the cop car to the top of the box office for Heath Ledger, Mel Gibson and all those other drunk driving, gun wielding football players and movie stars.

Finally, before I hung the show, I painted in a few "normal" people. Folks who weren't arrested at all, just to make it more like real life.
Which ones?
Judge for yourself.
The way you do on the street.

However that may be.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• art
• jahwatson
• jesse
• joshua
• painting
• watson
• lee
• scratch
• perry
• mugshot
• paintings
• artshow
• exhibit
• portrait
• artist

[denrec]

That was incredible. Holy mother of man. You should send this to SNL. It's way better than what they are currently doing with their creative artistic part of the show. Give us more dude especially while I can get it for free.

[lulutink58]

this was sooo creative :D

i love this artwork :)

[jrobichess]

Awesome!

[horsewrecker]

dear watson, it is my humble, though most sincere, estimation that your work is powerful and lovely, and your calling is true. thank you for posting this. dw