An Artist Statement In the Works

This rainbow artist had a busy week

I’ve been busy this week creating new art. Here are a couple more new ones.

I made some new stickers that I’m getting ready to send out in a month or so as part of a press kit announcement for the new version of my first book, “The Godchild,” and I got eight or nine more addresses of people to add to my mailing list.

I wrote Chapter 6 of my work in progress, “Good Catholic Kids”, and took some notes on where I wanna go with Chapter 7.

I smoked a lot of weed and accidentally stumbled upon a local “call for artists” on the internet that I wanna submit to. I need to pick out ten pieces to send images of and I had to write an artist statement, so I’ve been putting one together. I also had to swear that I’d wire my own paintings, and so far, I’ve never done that and don’t know how, so I watched some YouTube videos and bought some supplies. Once I try it out for myself and get a feel for it, I’ll submit my application.

I’m still working on the artist statement, but this is what I have so far.

“Jymi Cliche was born in the Boston area around the time that punk and hip hop were first born onto the radio. They were born into him as well. He went through constant trauma at an early age, which he was unable to escape for most of his life. He spent twenty years in and out of psych wards, chronically suicidal and falling apart. He worked as a guard at the DeCordova Museum in his twenties and had dreams of being an artist someday, but the reality of that dream was nowhere in sight.

“While Jymi may not have had any hope of becoming successful at the time, he continued to write and make art every day. His life spiraled out of control for years, but his creations helped keep him afloat. He did art every day and still does. Some of the mediums Jymi creates include photography, photo editing, digital illustration, blogging, painting, drawing, spoken word poetry, and he is an author with seven books and one on the way. He’s self-published a psychological thriller trilogy, an autobiography, two poetry and art books, and a children’s book. He designed all the covers as well.

“Jymi is influenced by a variety of artists like Basquiat, Keith Haring, Jim Henson, Picasso, Turner, Dr. Suess, Tim Burton, Miro, Robert Mapplethorpe, Spike Lee, Rasterms, and Jamie Hewlett. He loves graffiti, punk, hip hop, comics, movies, children’s books, abstract art, jazz, psychedelic art, and other types of pop culture that give him this particular taste.

“Some of his favorite authors are Anne Lamott, Stephen King, Questlove, SARK, and Michelle Tea.

“He loves a wide range of music and is always listening to everything on shuffle while he paints. Some top choices include Ani Difranco, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, Nas, Patti Smith, The Cure, Bob Marley, Blackalicious, Parliament-Funkadelic, Alice In Chains, Leon Bridges, Elvis Costello, Tool, Talking Heads, Rapsody, Joanna Newsom, and much, much, more. He could talk about music all day.

“Over the last decade, Jymi has made huge progress in his recovery, although he still battles severe symptoms of Bipolar Depression and Complex PTSD and there are themes of that in everything he creates. He attends weekly therapy and puts in constant hard work towards a better life. In 2017 he began showing his art at Out Of The Blue Gallery and has shown his art all over the Boston area including a home gallery in Medford, The Armory in Sommerville, Allston Village, Stingray Body Shop, and the Middle East Nightclub where he’s performed original songs with a live band. He’s also performed at Out Of The Blue Gallery in Allston, the Jam’n Java Open Mic in Arlington, and Soulkore Open Mic with local DJ, Nomadik Soulkore.

“Jymi is a long-time — — — resident who grew up in Middlesex County and hardly ever leaves the house, but he has fans all around the world and hosts occasional Open Mic/Art Show Parties with people from as far away as Australia on Zoom. He’s taking time off from performing, for now, to focus more on his books, blogging, and art.

That’s what I’ve been up to. It’s fucking freezing here and my knees are killing me but I can sleep late tomorrow, and I’m gonna try to do something fun like watching a movie or something if I can turn my brain off and wind myself down.

Here’s a song I like from the new Leon Bridges album…

And here is a song I love from Guru; one of my biggest influences.

Peace.

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