Vivid Underground

Damn, my final semester is almost over.  A part of me can’t wait to turn in that last final exam with a nice sketch of a supple pair of ass cheeks branded on the last page, butthe other part of me is pretty disappointed I don’t have an excuse to act like a 5 year old anymore. 

Thats right folks, no more college.  I love Michigan State, and I always have, ever since I was born.  Even though my college years have been a portion of the hardest times in my life, I don’t think I’d trade them for anything in the world.  I love this campus, I love the people, and I love the energy.  I’m sure as hell going to miss this place.  I’m sure you’re thinking to yourself, “cut the shit Bendey, just tell us what this post is about already.”  Well it’s of course about my final sculpture for my 3D form class.  Sculpting has never been anything that really interested me before, but over this past semester I’ve really fallen in Love with it.  I really think it’s the optimism involved.  For these projects I rarely went out to the store to buy materials; I would always hop in that dumpster out back or putz around the metal shop first.  The significance in finding something that someone threw away and using it in a manner that’s so incredibly foreign to the object itself really hits me in a weird way.  It’s almost like life; most of us will never get whatever we want handed to us on a silver platter, it’s up to us to work with what we have around us.  There’s no relationship created when you go to the store and buy the first appropriate cut of brass piping you see for a sculpture.  It actually begins to mean something when you scrounge around in trash for 30 min. looking for the perfect peice.  What you find is never going to be a perfect match for the blueprints you have in your head, but you’ll always find a way to make it work. 

This brings me to another obvious point you all probably saw coming.      Art and Love.

I’ve been thinking about Love quite a bit lately.  It’s a very sensitive and conflicting subject for me and recently it’s been a huge source of inspiration and contemplation in a lot of different ways.  There’s no question about it…I Love Art.  But there’s a huge misconception about art these days in the sense that there’s no money in it.  You either have to die first before you get recognized or you have to do something that’s incredibly revolutionary.  People often ask me, “hey man, are you really gonna be an artist for the rest of your life?” to which my reply is, “ahh well you know, i’ll always do it in my personal time but I dont know about professionally.”  The truth is, I’d like to slap everyone across the face that asks me that question.  I’ll never be an artist for the money and I’ll never stop being an artist because of the lack of money.  I do what I love and I love what I do.  It’s literally a passion, not a job or a career, a fiery bleeding passion.  I often find a connection with this specific mindset in music.  Music really moves me in indescribable ways and it would be foolish for me to try to describe it here.  I don’t use any drugs or substances, and I definitely don’t use anything to elevate any creativity…except for music. 

For the Love of Music.  For the Love of Art.

My final sculpture blends them both.  The outlets of creativity and the personal definition I have for each form expressed in a very dissected way.  Here are a few of the pieces to the puzzle…

Oh yeah, there will be 5 strategically-placed pieces of glass included as well…among other things.