(1) Be honest with your feelings and be willing to say “no” to forces that are not in your best interest.

(2) Tell them directly, intellectually and honestly.

(3) Repel those forces from your life.

Lie = “People in power never get together and conspire about things.”

Tweener - Just Men Berlin - September 2010

TWEENER

By Scott McEwan

The body of work presented in this exhibition is spawned from pro wrestling culture, sexual orientation, identity, social connections made through the internet, and lived experience.

Pro wrestling is an athletic, performative, and ritualistic act.  It is a key component of my life orientation because of the unique social spaces, culture and a community it offers.  One of the most intriguing aspects of this lifestyle is the language it possesses.  Pro Wrestling Speak is derived from English carnival culture of the 1800’s.  Casual words in English have been appropriated and given new meaning.  It is not unlike codes of secret security or secret societies.  The only difference is that pro wrestling’s secrets are very much in the public domain.  It is in this language that I find inspiration for my Neo Psychedelic paintings.  The tension between words in Wrestle Speak and English are the catalyst for every work.

Within pro wrestling there are four major types of characters.  The Jobber (the perpetual loser), the Heel (the rule breaking villain), the Face (the super hero), and the Tweener (the wrestler of ambiguity).  In today’s pro wrestling its mostly a juxtaposition of Heel vs Face.  Good versus evil.  I miss the days when Jobbers and Tweeners were more prominent.  The duality of Face and Heel seems, to me, another easy fit in this world of the bipolar schism.  Where individuals are relegated by choice and social manipulations into extreme dualities such as Coke or Pepsi, left or right, top or bottom, happy or sad,  and Mac or PC.  These dualities are imposed by a rigid global power structure and finds its way into many aspects of our lives.  Even pro wrestling is not immune.  It is for this reason that I based the exhibit around the concept of the Tweener (the ambiguous wrestler). It is in this character that I find an acknowledgment of the real world.  The one where living and non-living things are connected through infinite set of relationships.  A world of possibility as opposed to terminal options disguised as complex choices.

Conceptually this interconnectedness is found in the images appropriated from wrestling magazines and those sent to me randomly by friends on social networking sites. In these paintings you will find images of wrestlers, masks, and gear juxtaposed with cartoon characters, flowers, nuclear reactors, and other random images.  These images are woven together in a visual webbing of definitive contours and oozing ink outlines  This morphing lacework of imagery is the result of an 8 step structured process.  The complexity of the aesthetic is created through my own rigidity and obsessive behaviour.  Two opposite words from Wrestle Speak act as book ends or brackets between the connected imagery.  The outcome is a fine line between representation and abstraction.  Here in the connected and fluid imagery is where I hope the viewer can find the Tweener in my work.

I was watching the introductory scene to Star Trek: The Motion Picture and I found myself enjoying the balance between the use of models and CGI (for the time). For me it makes a more tempered and accessible reality for the viewer.

Launch the video here and enjoy. The soundtrack is also exceptional.

During my visit to NYC, I took time out to visit the Chelsea Gallery District. Of all the shows I took in, the most interesting was David Hockney’s Exhibit at Pace Wildenstein.  In this exhibit he presents a body of work of large rural landscapes, using non local colour on a mural scale.  The canvases, like his photographs are individual square segments merged together to make the whole.  The paintings are his trademark pictures of loosely painted images layered on top of each and very flat.  The only sense of depth is created through overlapping and relationships of scale.  There is little sense of depth created through colour tempurature and and atmospheric perspective.  However, there are about three massive paintings that stand out more than the others.  They come across as a new and refreshing direction for the artist.  They have more depth and an almost surreal sense of representation (there are strange multiple vanishing points). The colour relationships and the tensions they create are captivating and have the ability, for such large pictures, to draw you in.  So much so, that you become part of the painting.  I think the works shown above are some of the best by the artist I have seen in a long time.  I look forward to seeing more.  View work at Pace Wildenstein here.

I have a strong connection to Montreal. I think it is one of the most interesting cities in Canada and it has an urban appeal unlike no other. When I was young, my Expo 67 inspired parents would bypass Toronto and take us on vacation to Montreal. My sister lived there and while living in Ottawa I practically lived there myself. The hourly shuttle bus was fantastic for that. I am in need of another Montreal fix. I have friends to see again and those who I have become connected to on-line who I need to see for the first time. However, another reason I need to go to Montreal is to go to Sorellarium 13. It’s an interior space designed by Catherine Bujold. The space is inspired by my favourite sci-fi series Space 1999 which ran from 1974 to 1976. The space is an almost exact replica of the original set. Furniture by ultra modern designers such as Columbo, Brunu, Mazza and Aulenti. It’s my dream come true. You can view her living space here.

While following the election coverage in the U.S. through alternative media, I have heard the term “empty suit” being used to describe both John McCain and Barrack Obama. This term implies that the politician is a medium (an empty vessel) through which special interests and corporate power govern. When it comes to the current Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper is both an “empty suit” and an “empty person”. The funding cuts to Canadian cultural programs and projects abroad (not that there was much money there to begin with) speaks volumes about an individual who simply exists and does not live. For Stephen Harper, culture is simply a waste of money and a means of funding a progressive group of people (who aren’t part of his constituency). Jack Layton told me in a recent email that Harper “fears the fearless.” In the 21st century, culture is a massive contributor to the economy. In fact, the creative class grows with the increased access to technology by the average citizen. One should value Canadians who see the world as full of possibility and who project our culture outward to the rest of the world. Unfortunately as art critic Rene Ricard once said “you can never convince those who use their gifts to enslave that you have used your gifts to be free”.

I am very happy about being in the current edition of Fab Magazine which combines the work of Canadian artists Daryl Vocat, Andrew Harwood, Me, Mark Ciale, and John Webster with underwear designs by contemporary designers. I am honoured that my close friend Matthew Simpson was juxtaposed with my work. He not only is someone very special to me, but also the man who designs my wrestling gear. A beautiful combination. View the art and designs here.

I wanted to thank Michael Kormendy for getting my website up and running. His efforts are greatly appreciated. The intent of the site is to promote my visual arts and wrestling while providing a forum to share my lived experiences, and ideas. This site is both a means of outreach, but also a way of staying in touch with friends from Toronto and around the world that I have met over the years. Please let me know if you encounter any technical glitches (and in which web browser), so I can pass them on to the designer. Looking forward to your audience. Contact me via email if you want to comment on my journal or visual works. scottmcewan@sympatico.ca