As I sit here to contemplate this written entry, the word SIMPLE is subtly embedded into a cubic structure on my hooded sweatshirt. A similar block letter design happens to be on the beanie I’m wearing. Wood grain lettering is flanked by bright colors on a panel hanging above my staircase, graffiti styled letters proclaim SIMPLE as if it’s a new idea. Fancy new glow in the dark stickers are stuffed into a plastic container with various stickers of octopus, bands and coffee companies. These SIMPLE stickers are derived from a drawing I did early in college. Why has this word been such a consistent presence in my life for the last 20 years?
I was immediately enamored with graffiti upon my introduction to it in high school. A simple idea really – how cool can you make your name look? Bubble letters get a third dimension, coloring in the lines became patterns, add shading and shine for depth, curve those shapes around and add some arrows. GET NUTS. There were no limits, in fact, it wasn’t even necessary to be able to discern individual letters. I thought these artists were magicians and I wanted to make magic. I adopted the alias SIMPLISTYK, quickly shortened to SIMPLE to fit easier on a page, and decided I’d learn wild style. I would draw complicated letters that said SIMPLE, because I’m clever.
20 years later, I stick with SIMPLE as it continues to motivate me to distill the complicated nature of reality, of art, of intention, of ideas; into more digestible blocks that help make sense of existing. I like to take this known entity, the same word, the same six letters that I’m so familiar with, and see if I can do something new with it. It’s kind of like my life, my body, my consciousness, my relationships; to some extent they’re the same but as they evolve over time they continue to take on new shapes and new forms. Perhaps SIMPLE is how I actively participate in the constant on-going river of change.
I feel like SIMPLE is where my journey as an artist started. I invite you to follow my creative expression as I continue making things as a way of life.
Below: A quick travel through time starting with SIMPLISTYK in my high school era. Then, wild style gives way to the geometric style and paper gives way to digital and wearable art.
