There’s a DIY aesthetic in skating. Did that apply to
art as well, the idea that you didn’t need qualifications
or permission to engage in art?
Growing up in a small town, everybody played
football or basketball and there were all these rules
and regulations. Having an outlet like skateboarding,
there’s no coaches or rules. During the mid– to
late–’80s, doing your own thing was encouraged.
The crappier something was, the better it was, in a
lot of ways. It showed that it flew in the face of what
everybody else was doing at the time. You explored
your own ideas.
You moved to Dayton, Ohio, after art school. With
your work having been appreciated in a lot of
places, like Los Angeles and New York, what’s kept
you in Dayton?
I just prefer the challenge of making a career in
art from here rather than picking up and going
somewhere else.
Conventional wisdom says you need to go to a big
city to be successful, but it seems like that ties back
into the freedom idea from skating—you’re free to
do your own thing out there.
I know the Internet has kind of leveled the playing field
in what people see, but that’s only if you’re looking
for it. Where you live, that’s what you see; that’s what
becomes a part of you. Being here [in Ohio], I kind of
enjoy the fact that I don’t know a lot of things I should
probably know as an artist. I’m not in any kind of scene.
I’m just out here digging around.
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