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| Early Logo Idea |
I'll never forget the day, if I even remember it at all. I was sitting in a dark room, completely out of my tree with my two friends Nolan and Anne, and the idea struck me liken act of God. It was 2005, Marilyn Manson had announced his “celebritarian” art movement and his most recent album at the time (Golden Age of Grotesque) had turned me onto the dAdA movement in a big way. I wanted to do that. But how?
The only way I knew how. I was going to make a website which was anti-commercialism and nothing but art for art's sake. I felt there hadn't been a massive art-movement
in many years like the concept of dAdAism and anti-art. And I wanted that. And in my disillusioned state, I decided how to get it.
I had enough friends who were artists. I would encourage them to make art that had no commercial value whatsoever. And by encouraging them to do so, would send art itself into a tangent
where an art-movement would manifest and gain attention and inevitably put everyone in the history books. May I remind you, I was off-my-face-fucked for about 2 years solid.
But even more than that (and the reason I had the idea in the first place) was that I noticed an immense talent amongst many of the people I knew. I wanted to reward the respect these people deserved at best I could. I believed in them, as I still do, as I believe in myself. I wanted to encourage more production and, even better, maybe inspire some collaboration between them.
So there I sat, in the dark room with a couple of coloured papers and a pen, scribbling down every idea, every possible artist, every site design mock-up that came into my head. I covered a good 20 pages with information. Tiny writing. Even in the margins. Both sides. I was certain it was the greatest idea ever in the history of time, and even today, I can't say it was a bad idea in the slightest.
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| Early rough designs of Art-Pulp, not so good. |
Whatever, the point is: it had begun. And every free moment of work was spent on contacting the relevant people and getting input from all involved. My ambitions were big: much like the collaboration idea, everything would be completely democratic. Every week the 10 candidates I asked to be involved (many of which are main features of the site right now) would vote on everything, from the name to the sections, to the slogans and even down to the design side of things. I was still so crazy at this stage, that I even offered to make a different site design for every single artist included, which I'm glad I decided not to do. Yes, no stone was left unturned, and it was killing me.
However, we started to get somewhere. The name was decided as Art Pulpitations and the slogan was to be Deciminating Preconceptions. The designs you see above were the (atrocious) first mock-ups, and even though they would have never worked, you can notice how the final design you see today progressed from these. People were excited and people were submitting art. I neglected my work because all I cared about was this site. I put a lot of effort into it and then... it all went sideways.
What I've learned is this: too much input = too many unhappy people. The most unhappiest of all was me. Frantically I sent emails every week or so
to the candidates until everyone lost interest. The work that paid me started to pile on, I had my band No Better Ego Trip to think of at the time, and I stopped taking so much drugs that I couldn't give a fuck from that point.
So it was shelved, and although I was still in love the idea, it had all gone sour with complications. It sucked, and more than anything I felt guilty to have not only started another project that I didn't finish, but this time I had other people in on it. And I never stopped thinking about it completely, I still believed I wanted to be a part of an art movement, and I believed the best way to achieve this was through building an army of like minded people. But every angle I could think of achieving this with, involved winning the lotto.
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| The voting charts that took place on deciding the name and slogan for the site, as rated by the artists. |
I guess what I didn't realise at the time was that I was dying in Cape Town of monotony. Everything had gone stale, from my job to my art to the places I went out to. Once every girl you meet has already been fucked by one of your friends (or yourself) then you start to crave something bigger. Which was, in my case, moving to London. It proved to be a fantastic decision, my inspiration flooded back as if it had only been getting stronger with hibernation. Many projects started to take form, the thrill was so unique yet familiar, and so exhilarating, that I made it my goal to seriously try and execute every idea, big or small, into action.
And like a pebble in my brain, the idea of Art Pulp kept cropping up, until it became imperative that I followed through with it. But this time it would be different. I had to do it my way, treat it like my own baby, and make sure I felt comfortable and motivated with every step of the way. If people didn't want to be involved, that was their choice, but if people liked the idea and wanted to become a part of it, I would encourage them and do whatever was needed to cater for their art to feel at home.
And thus began the real Art-Pulpitations.
By taking a look around here you will see many of the greatest artists I have ever come into contact with. You will also notice that my love for dAdAism has subsided a bit. It was, after-all, just a phase. But I still believe in everyone here, including myself, to the degree that something big could come of this. And perhaps, with the right movements, something massive could come of this. Let's all put our hands together and pray.
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| The original concept design for Scott/Mash |
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
APH who has been amped about this project since day one, always eager to play his part and submit work. His input has been very valuable to me, this site would be different without him.
ANNE-MICHELLE DOOLEY who was a big part of the original concept and the first artist to submit work for this final version.
JACLYN WOODS who was always an ear to listen, either to give input or just patiently let me ramble about my ideas. And I am not talking about Art-Pulp exclusively, I'm talking about my whole life.
KRIS COOK for the technical support.
NICK LOWE who was always the first to give his input and submit pieces when Art-Pulp was still just an egg.
NOLAN ROSS VAN HEERDEN who was probably the main reason for this site. Our 12 hour discussions about art always inspired me and granted me much appreciation for the arts in general.
SHANNON BOWIE who let me ramble and work while she just kept me company, always ready to help out. Thanks Collie.
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