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Artist's Statement

"The purpose of art in particular is to re-establish a lost contact with the un-conscious . . . and to keep and develop this contact in order to bring to the conscious mind the throbbing events of the unconscious mind." -John Graham. 1937

"Silence is so accurate," -Mark Rothko

Part I.  Transcript: an interview with Zack Morris. 
Zack:  Hi.  Welcome.

chris rae:  Hi.  Thanks very much for having me.

Zach:  Sure thing.  So, let’s start with the content and themes of your work, where they come from, how they’re developed and so on.

chris rae:  OK.  Sure.

Zach:  So like, what’s your art about?

chris rae:  Well, that’s a tough question because I think the answer is broad, but I guess it really boils down to my experiences and finding a way to catalog and express them and to work through certain issues and ideas.  I think the real goal is for people to be able draw out or relate to experiences from the imagery in my work. 

Zach:  Like the way people relate to my coming-of-age adolescent experiences at Bayside?    

chris rae:  Yeah.  I think so. 

Zach:  Connections, right?  Go Bayside! 

chris rae:  Yeah. 

Zach:  So, one thing I want to point out is that I’ve noticed that your work contains lots of repeated imagery and that you tend to work in series. Can you comment on this, your frequent and recurring use of certain specific symbols?

chris rae:  OK, well, I guess I'm interested in the perception of symbols and especially how our perception changes when multiple symbols are juxtaposed and in the new meaning or interpretation created by their arrangement.  This is really interesting to me.  I’ve noticed that a lot of symbols I end up painting are derived from sketches that I sort of subconsciously draw or doodle on and I find that it’s usually pretty interesting to put separate ideas together especially if they’ve stemmed from different places, times or ideas.  Also, I think it’s particularly interesting to work with the same symbol repeatedly and to watch how parts of its context or interpretation might happen to change from painting to painting. 

Zack:  Like the series with the flower and fork? I suppose that’s novel.  Have you read my novel, Ex-Zack-ly? 

chris rae:  Only a few pages.

Zack:  You should read all of it.  It’s sick.  A lot of babes like it.  I got a lot of really great dates from it, and older girls too.  We’d usually go to The Attic, the 18 and up club, with my fake ID.  So anyway, about this series, can you direct me through the thought process and the reasoning for this arrangement?

chris rae:  The flower and fork series?  That’s a really old one. 

Zack:  Yeah, that one.  What’s the deal?

chris rae:  Well, I guess that I think the symbols emerged separately and subconsciously from my sketch book but took on an interesting relationship when I juxtaposed them.  To me, the flower representation embodies a sort of gentle, natural and organic quality while the fork is a rigid, fabricated object- a manifestation of the industrial world.  I feel like the arrangement of images in this series implies the fork has been thrust into the earth in a violent, piercing action while, conversely, the flower has grown from it slowly and eloquently according to the rules of nature. I like the contrast.

Zack:  So it’s about contrasting existences?

chris rae:  Sure, I suppose. And balance, maybe. Precarious contradictions in theme, in nature, emotion and so on.  That kind of thing. 

Zack:  Is this idea derived from any specific issue, does it pertain to something in particular? Are the themes of balance, contradiction and contrast relative to any certain aspects of your life?

chris rae:  Yeah, absolutely.

Zach:  Well, want to expand on this?

chris rae: No, I guess not. 

Zack:  You could relate those themes to girls, you know?  For instance, I’d love to have a precarious contradiction with Kelly, heh?  Is that what it’s about? 

chris rae:  No. 

Zack:  So then, like what’s the deal with the ones that are just rectangles with like just two colors?  That seems easy.  Couldn’t you think of something better?  Babes on the beach perhaps?  Like, where did this idea even come from?

chris rae:  Yeah, I think it came primarily from living near the ocean and spending time there.  It’s really interesting that the horizon line across a body of water is one of the only naturally straight lines in a landscape, I guess depending where you are. The linear etching between sky and ocean derives this simplicity against otherwise chaotic forms in land- and city-scapes.  I think it’s interesting how the horizon line creates such a strong break down into distinct planes.  Sky and ocean.  This kind of provoked my consideration of color transcending form, which is also sort of modeled after, or say, inspired by some Rothko ideas that I’m in to but don’t know enough about.  I guess what I’m saying is that in these series, color separates two planes into distinct entities without explicitly etching the horizon line and I think the interface of this separation is interesting.  The horizon line across flat places is something special I guess.  These places have a distinct meaning.   

Zack:  Sounds like you were sitting on your board on some flat days.  Or you suck at surfing, like one of those dudes who just goes out to stare at the sky instead of shredding or meeting girls on the beach.  Did you know Bayside has a sweet surf team?  We beat Valley and won the championships. 

chris rae:  Cool.  Do you surf on the team?

Zack:  No, but I should.  I only surf in summer when Staci Carossi isn’t hounding me to get to work at the resort.  And sometimes I go out just so I can keep an eye on Kelly when she’s lifeguarding.  Okay, shift gears.  What about the faceless figures? Where do they come from?

chris rae: Well, I suppose that artists have always been interested in the figure. I’m interested in how omitting a face bestows the figure with a certain anonymity, which subsequently shifts the perception of the image from subject to object.  A symbol.  Objectification versus subjectification of the human figure is an interesting issue and, I believe, a fundamental one in art and society, which I think can spark consternating emotions on several levels relative to other social ideas that art may happen to examine or address. I feel like a lot of popular culture objectifies the figure.  Sex and the notion of the idealized figure permeate our media to almost every end.  It’s interesting, especially since a lot American values tend to regard sexuality in a manner, which designates an openness about it as explicitly taboo and I feel like there’s an underlying contradiction sifting around there somehow. 

Zack:  And all the cut outs and collage work with the bikini models?  Looks like you’re pretty babe crazy.  Wish you were The Mack like Zack?

chris rae: Well yeah, this is the objectification idea.  A blatant cultural emphasis on sexuality can direct society towards a mechanism of dehumanization and such a high social value of sex appeal can deemphasize the importance of other more humanly traits. Don’t get me wrong though, celebrating the beauty of the human body is also an important and fundamentally inherent concept in human culture.  I have no intentions to denounce these social values and I’m certainly not championing censorship by any means, just pointing out how the idealized figure is a vital cultural component. 

Zack: I would only paint bikini models if I were into painting, and preferably Kelly, but okay, sure, so what about all the hearts?  What’s the deal with that?  I feel like you’re totally babe-crazy-emo and I know exactly what that’s like.

chris rae:  No, I think the heart symbol is one that’s tough to explain.  I think I started it up when a family member was having some heart problems.  It just stuck in my sketchbook somehow.  Funny enough, I think this happened to both of my brothers independently.  Now it’s sort of a connection to them for me.  But it’s also like this kitschy symbol and it’s interesting to try to use it in a not-so-kitschy context.

Zach:  Nothing wrong with love, brah.  So then, what about the animal imagery? It seems like this is another repeated concept you’ve experimented with.  Want to talk about this?

chris rae: Oh right. I like animals.  I work in biology.  There’s this one interesting symbolism with the birds.  For years I drove to school and work and inevitably passed under a phone line where dozens of birds would sit, all in a line with the grey morning marine layer- a weird association I had with driving down the freeway with the rest of the working class going to our jobs, alone and anonymous in our cars in the crowded morning traffic.  They had a morning routine too, the birds.  I used to tell some other stories when people asked but I can’t remember them anymore.

Zack:  You should get a job at The Max or Carossi’s resort and forget the rat race.  Or get a job as a park ranger.  A park near the beach like Muir Woods.  Anything else noteworthy in regards to imagery and the content of your work?

chris rae: Well I suppose I went through a phase of painting guitars and tweaked beach images on surfboards and skateboards and yeah, those were from hobbies that were important to me. Oh, and the telephone poles. I like the crucifix resemblance, which is the principal symbol in Christianity and subsequently one of the most prevalent and historically important symbols in Western art. I can imagine that in twenty years or so all of our shared information will be satellite based with wireless technology making our reliance on phone lines obsolete thus creating a value in recycling the miles and miles of metal lines, probably more so than taking down the wooden poles. This scenario might create a new landscape, both urban and rural, of millions of crucifix telephone pole skeletons scattered in patterns across the states.  And then do we actively take them down or will people embrace the unintended religious symbology? And will the Christian community push to leave them up?  Will America become the birthplace of a new wave of fundamentalist Christianity? Are we talking crucifix pilgrimages from city to city along these phone pole paths?  What does the government do?  Church and state?  I don’t know.  Actually I’m mostly just interested in Christian symbolism and iconography.  I think folk iconography is really interesting and this interest has been fostered growing up in New Mexico where there’s no shortage of religious and folk iconography in the art there.

Zack: Ok.  Hmm.  You’re a weirdo.  Now, what about the hanging stars with stitches? 

chris rae: I’m just goofing about the poles.  About the stars, I suppose those could have been inspired by Elliott smith whose music I’m really fond of.  He was on a label at one time called “kill rockstars”, thus maybe the stars.  Or maybe just a mesh of symbols from the unconscious. Not sure, but I painted it after his death.   

Zack: So all in all do you feel that your unconscious mind drives you to paint more than your conscious mind?

chris rae:  I like this question.  I feel that the unconscious plays a strong role in the creative processes and especially within those media that rely on a fixed visual component.  I would say that it’s been my experience that the expression of the unconscious mind can be far more powerful, interesting and personal than something put forth for a premeditated purpose as an attempt to express oneself in a predetermined light. I believe that it’s a far less limiting approach and that the aim of my work is largely and increasingly to become more in touch with my unconscious self, by means in which I hope to expand the limits of my humanly existence and experiences.

 Zack: Okay. I’m a little lost. Do you even like the rap still?

chris rae: Yeah, I like the rap

Zack: Bad blood?

chris rae:  No.  I just feel like that a real pompous intellectual attitude towards the process is way, way bogus. 

Zack: And what about sweat pants?

chris rae: Sweat pants aint bogus. I liked them a lot in grade school. 

Zack: Grad school?

chris rae:  No.  Grade school.

Zack:  Oh.  What’s your medium?

chris rae:  Most everything is in oil.  Oil and ink and collage I guess. 

Zack:  Do you think art is temporary?

chris rae:  Absolutely.

Zack:  Why’s that?

chris rae:  It just is.

Zack:  I know.  Anyone really inspiring you want to give a shout out to?

chris rae:  Yeah, Gary Myers and everyone I had classes with there.  The AD collective is an amazing project http://adcollective.org/ that he inspired.  I would like to join their B team if they have one.  Also, the little brothers.  In fact, Andrew has drawn a lot of the recent images and worked on some of the paintings with me.  He also gives me his photos to paste into them.

Zack:  Okay, great.  Now I gotta’ meeting with Belding and then I gotta’ get ready for my big night with Kelly.  I’m taking her out to The Attic and then to the Max. 

Part II.  Transcript: an interview with AC Slater.  Winter 2006.
AC: Hey! Come on in, I just got done with a great wrestling match! Go bayside! You bet! So, obviously I, AC Slater, am a pretty recognizable character in western pop culture. Your music in some ways is tied to pop culture, such as super mario guitar riffs, and ill rap throw downs: what do these recognizable sounds represent for you? Is there a symbology in them? In other words, you have taken them out of context and used them in entirely new and strange surroundings. Why, and what effect do you think this has?

chris rae: I suppose that’s kind of a hard one to answer. I’m not consciously borrowing things other than the videogame riffs and that was a long time ago.  I’m not really trying to make any direct comment on pop culture. I think, however, that inherently there’s some component of pop that comes into play anytime you’re making music because music is so utterly fundamental to popular culture. So whether it’s an attempt to mimic pop music and comply with and strengthen current pop ideas, or to push the media in new experimental directions or to flat out blatantly challenge and rally against popular trends, there’s always something relative to pop culture or pop counter culture going on. But mostly I feel that I tend to stray from attempting social commentary and pushing ideas and I find that it’s more rewarding to play songs that either address more personal issues or that are aimed primarily to be for the sake and enjoyment of playing and creating music. As a means of expression on a personal level.

AC: Now, obviously, a stud like me can score just about any babe I want; I am captain of the wrestling team, no doubt! ...and yet I always seemed to come in second behind Zach Morris with Kelly: I am no stranger to failure. Many nowadays take their personal emotions and put it on their sleeves and make whininess a virtue.

chris rae: The whole emo scene?

AC: Okay. Yeah, sure. So your music is personal, but you express yourself more through abstraction and maybe on more subtle terms. Do you make a conscious effort not to be too obvious or do you just go for it all and see what happens? In other words, do you prefer to express a feeling or emotion by saying " I am down”, or whatever, or do you do it by making your guitar or voice sound “down”, if you will?

chris rae: Well, whatever.  I suppose I tend to write vague, spacey, non-sense lyrics that sometimes reflect distantly on issues that I’m dealing with, but in a relatively abstract way and with blurred references that usually only I connect a concrete meaning to. I think this can help keep music from being subject to a categorical genre so easily, which I think strengthens the artistic and creative merit.  But most of all, I find that it’s much more interesting and expressive, not to mention therapeutic, to play out those emotions and frustrations than to write blatantly about some emotions corresponding to how you were feeling at one moment in time. Aggressive or, yeah, sad or whatever- it’s just more expressive to play in a way that connects with how you’re feeling than to say it explicitly. It’s also interesting to have a song have that sort of dynamic. It can change depending on how you’re feeling and isn’t locked in to a certain subject matter. Is a love song real if you’re not feeling love when you’re playing it? Emotional states are dynamic, so why shouldn’t a song have the same quality? To tie into your previous question, I think pop tends toward the explicit route of song writing, which I think can leave a song without a certain poetic quality. Think Usher ever faked a love song? 

AC:  No.

chris rae:  Well probably not Usher, but I guess my frustration is that mainstream immediate accessibility doesn’t necessarily require much focus on creativity.

AC: Can you believe Usher is settling down and is like this dad-slash-family man now?

chris rae:  It’s been a real transformation.  He’s really matured and so have his hits.

AC: Okay, so Kelly is way a babe, right...if she goes with me to the homecoming dance, do you think she will, ya know?

chris rae: I don’t think she’s like that.

AC:  Yeah right.  Ever heard Preppy in the locker room? 

chris rae:  No.  Besides when he’s hatching a plan to you and Screech.

AC:   Whatever.  So “connections: two wrongs trying for a right”, what’s that all about?

chris rae: I suppose that this collection of songs had a sort of general theme about my being disconnected in several senses at one point and just being kind of frustrated and sometimes feeling a little trapped.  I suppose the wrongs trying for a right is really just sort of my hopefulness that my voice and song writing, both of which I’m super insecure about, would just sort of work out somehow and that I’d be happy with the over all product.

AC: Yeah, your voice is real bad.

chris rae: I know, I know.  I try real hard to improve it.  I just wasn’t born with it.  It is real bad but I gotta try anyway. 

AC: tight!!!!!  So, you made some of these songs with a band right? 

Chris rae:  Yeah, all the good ones are with my buddies.  We made a music box in our garage and we all make up songs together.

AC:  tight!!!!  Zack Attack started in a garage too.  “Friends forever” and “Did we ever have a chance?” were our big hits.  They took us to the top!

Chris rae:  Yeah, those were hot songs.  You guys inspired us a lot.

AC:  Awesome.  Who jam boxed?

chris rae:  Ryker Brown, Andrew Rae, Kevin Schoettler and Jason Wilson.  Also Eric Young and Doug Thorburn way back when.  They all taught me a lot about music and I am grateful. 

AC:  tight!!!!!

chris rae: Yeah, they’re awesome and it’s really fun.  So I want to make it clear that it’s not at all like I’m on some kind of mission to make a statement or anything or even to suggest that the songs I’ve recorded on my own are worthy of comparison with anything out there. Just a hobby turned to a quasi-therapeutic means of expression. I’m not on a crusade to get my music out or to participate in any music scene, much less even pretend I know what’s up. I’ve got no expectations for what I’ve recorded. It’s just a hobby and one of those things that I’ve worked on long enough where it feels like I have to share it and that I should have to say something about it.

AC: tight!!!! So, many aspects of my personal high school life are interconnected: if I win the wrestling match, I get a date for prom; I win prom king... etc. Chillin' at the Max is hand in hand with getting an A on the math quiz. This can be applied to art as well: say you are a visual artist as well as a musician. How does your understanding of aesthetics correspond to your understanding of what makes something interesting and thought provoking to listen to? How are the two disciplines related?

chris rae: Yeah, that’s a really good question and another difficult one as well. The two are certainly related. My interest in them is somewhat in the fundamental role they play in society, especially music, and the platform they provide on which people can express, challenge and experiment with ideas. Art and music can become a forum to test our cultural boundaries of what’s acceptable and what’s admirable and important to us, and so on. They also act as such a perfect medium or tool to reflect on and examine so many aspects of life whether the reflection is social or purely personal or whatever. They’re just perfect ways to express thought on life and culture and to deal with and work through issues in both if one wants to do that. They’re ways to deal with existence and to try and become more in tune with it. I find that asking myself why I did something makes me more aware of myself.
That’s my connection between the two but to get back to the question, does an understanding of aesthetics in the visual sense lead to an understanding of those in a musical sense? I’m not sure. I think in my experience, visual art has lessened my interest in developing technical ability and heightened it in the realm of creating uniquely stylized work.  I’d say that this has carried over to songwriting and playing. I’m not looking to be the fastest guy on the fretboard, just to be doing something interesting and distinct. So yeah, I’d say I would be able to tie the two most notably in approach; placing a de-emphasis on technical ability, which I think can quickly push the work towards the realm of kitsch, and focusing more on developing experimentally distinctive and stylized work. And I find it’s most interesting and challenging in both arenas to aim for a final product which ultimately attempts to express some sort of universal sentiment or emotion connected with some sort of universal moment of existence and to do so in a uniquely creative way.

AC: So, sometimes you bust raps--- you know Zach and I and screech had a rap crew, we performed at the Max. And we also did that musical- snow white and the seven nerds, a rap opera, tight huh?

chris rae: Yeah. That was tight. It was cool until you flipped out because you saw Jesse and Zach kissing in the play.

AC: I know. But it worked out. 

chris rae:  I guess.

AC:  What’s this Real Shaq project about?

chris rae:  myspace.com/therealshaq

AC: and what about The Pentacles?

chris rae:  myspace.com/thepentacles    Jeff Halley, Colin Brown and Henry Jones are the ish, the real ish.  And nice for letting me hang out. 

AC: Can you even believe that time when we invented buddy bands for our economics class and they became like the biggest things but then everyone got pissed at Zack so we started our own project that beat Zack’s but then in the end Zack learned his lesson?

chris rae: Dude, I missed that one but it sounds really wild.

AC:  Anyone you know making awesome music that you want to give a shout out to or recommend?

chris rae:  Yeah.  Mitch Issues, Broken Smokes and The Kidcrash, all who have ties to Olympia, Washington and also Keyboard from New Mexico.  Also bay area bands Evacuee, Songs for Moms, Alright Class, Nobody Beat,s, Belly of the Whale and Barnacles. And Mike Rae and all of his bands past and present.  And of course the great Cindy Santini from San Diego.

AC: What about Zack Attack?

chris rae:  Yeah, them too.  Absolutely.

AC:  So I know you had your share of fun in college. Me too, like when we all started going to that sports bar because of the waitresses.  And that time we threw a rave in the dorms?  I can’t believe I wasted so much time dating Alex though.  We were so incompatible.  I definitely should have gone for Leslie.  Geeze. Well, I gotta’ go to the Max!  Later, and see you at the big game!