Although I am influenced by politics, nature and the world in general, there are a few things that I always go back to. MUSIC. BOOKS. OTHER ARTISTS.
RALPH STEADMAN: An incredible
illlustrator who also has authored a few books. Most famous for
collaborating with Hunter S. Thompson on the book, "Fear and Loathing
In Las Vegas." He also is a printmaker.
I remember reading "Fear and Loathing" in the late eighties and
being blown away by the art, even though it is
just black and white illustration. I still refer back to it a lot. You can
check out his shocking illustrations at his site:
http://www.ralphsteadman.com/index.html
Henry Rollins. Rollins has taught me
many things over the years. I began listening to his music when he was with
a punk band called Black Flag. I was a 17 year old kid in the front row getting
sweat dripped on me from him and
I just couldn't get enough. Soon after, I was listening to him perform spoken
word in Cleveland. Then he left
Black Flag and formed his own band, The Rollins Band, which he still fronts.
Rollins is all about the hard truth. So
am I. Check him out further at his website:
www.henryrollins.com
Wally Lamb. Author of "She's Come
Undone" and "I Know This Much Is True." I first picked up "She's
Come Undone", which is his first book, and I was blown away. From Amazon.com:
"Mine is a story of craving; an unreliable account of lusts and troubles that began, somehow, in 1956 on the day our free television was delivered." So begins the story of Dolores Price, the unconventional heroine of Wally Lamb's She's Come Undone. Dolores is a class-A emotional basket case, and why shouldn't she be? She's suffered almost every abuse and familial travesty that exists: Her father is a violent, philandering liar; her mother has the mental and emotional consistency of Jell-O; and the men in her life are probably the gender's most loathsome creatures. But Dolores is no quitter; she battles her woes with a sense of self-indulgence and gluttony rivaled only by Henry VIII. Hers is a dysfunctional Wonder Years, where growing up in the golden era was anything but ideal. While most kids her age were dealing with the monumental importance of the latest Beatles single and how college turned an older sibling into a long-haired hippie, Dolores was grappling with such issues as divorce, rape, and mental illness. Whether you're disgusted by her antics or moved by her pathetic ploys, you'll be drawn into Dolores's warped, hilarious, Mallomar-munching world."
Read his bio here
