To publish this last picture ‘together with text’, took about two hours! I am obviously not entirely adept at blogging yet! So I will give you a separate blog of my thoughts on the piece ( Urban Junkies ). The image is a collage made up from magazine pictures and other publications in 2012, part of my ‘Portraits Series of works. To see the image click on the tag at the top of the page labelled: Urban Junkies. This piece of work attempts to quantify and define the urban image, as exemplified by todays bright young things. Bear in mind that we were all bright young things in the past, though we may have dimmed in the process of aging. We can justifiably ask ourselves what has become of the people we once were and how has the experience of life changed us? Have we become more tolerant and accepting of the political status quo? Have we been lulled into a false sense of security? Have the passions which once we felt been undermined, and if so is that an inevitability?
In my opinion the artist has by the nature of his/her privileged position to champion the rights and concerns of the masses. Art has always been the most influential vehicle for change in society. It has a legacy of influencing public opinion, and has,by its birth-right, a responsibility to reveal universal truths. Despite the overrated hype of urban art, it non the less has found its way into the public consciousness and become in the process a voice to be reckoned with. As times change so does art, otherwise it remains a product of a bygone age, and says nothing to the people that it purports to represent.