As per, I'm being myself and thinking lots. One particular thinking sesh occurred on the bus home after a visit to the Saatchi Gallery's exhibition, ICONOCLASTS: Art Out of the Mainstream. The following poem 'The Bus Ride' spewed out of my mental inspired by the talent challenging the status art quo; the works were disruptive, unusual and uncomfortable, mirroring the changes bubbling under society's surface right now. Individuals want their time – no one-size-fits-all.
In the words of Sam Cooke, "a change is gonna come" and it's being explored by makers, artists, musicians and activists to ensure that everyone – of all shapes, skews and colours – gets a voice. Society seems a bit uncertain and buggered at the moment so we're all rethinking ways it can be improved.
HERE's a brief look into society...
And below is one of my favourite works from the Saatchi exhibition. Philip Colbert, a neo-pop artist, sparks dialogue about the state of things. He's irreverent, he re-contextualises cultural symbols and he playfully probes me to think about the different planes of existence and systems intersecting in today's world. Colbert's works are vibrant and massive (like, literally one piece is a whole-wall feature) and reference iconic and nostalgic imagery such as Picasso's original style, Dali's tiger, Warhol prints and Lucian Freud portraits. His folio is a mass consumerism, political, pop culture mash-up.
It's brilliant. It's scary. It's today. How to decipher this...?
SO WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT?
Everyone is lucky enough to have a platform and more of an opportunity today. Online or offline, how will you use it? Check Sarah Smith's poetry in Saatchi's ArtMag (if you can get a copy). She uses her platform to say-it-how-it-is. Underscored by her Northern English, working-class background, her work reassures us it's okay to admit how we actually live, how we actually think, how we actually feel – it's not all rose-tinted glitter. Society needs to be more accepting and we, as individuals, have a chance to initiate this breaking free of expectation.
The hardest part is first accepting ourselves...
