Click HERE for the
Hard-core, Nut's & Bolts Resume
(education, showings, philosophy, etc.)

Basics:
* Born in Detroit, Michigan in the "Summer of Love- 1969."

* Left - Handed, a dedicated "South Paw!"

* Likes to sit in the backyard at his home studio in California and idly shoot Pomegranate seeds through a McDonalds straw through his wood privacy fence at the neighbors Yorkie - Belle.
HeHe, she still doesn't know where there coming from... :0)

* Regrets:
Wasn't living in California at the time of the Gray Davis recall. Really wanted to get my name on that ballot.

* Art:
It is imperative for the artist, himself, to become the product people invest in. Not the residual art works produced over the years. Think Service! > NOT Product!

* Politics:
Republican on tuesdays and thursdays. Democrat on monday, wednesday and friday. And staunch independent on weekends!

* Philosophy:
I make autobiographical artworks that address my unfolding political agenda. Topics such as: religion as corporate entity, positive and negative concepts inherent in street violence and protest as a vehicle for social change and personal martyrdom, corrupt western governments and their "bedfellows" corporations and PAC's, mistaken identity, cultural amnesia, and scientific and genetic ethics. These are just some of the more recent subject matter explored in my installations and writings. My desire to make these works personal helps them find diverse audiences and the narrative style of my artwork, I hope, only lends credence to the subject matter explored.

As well as always being engaged in advancing the artistic level of my artwork, I am currently working on a book of critical essays (all written by me), that deal primarily with the economics of a Postmodern society, the devaluation of the American dollar, the declining middle class and the place these 'movements' have in today's society based on consumption to maintain power. For example, media tactics appear to be leading a large segment of the population to mass hysteria nightly as the result of scare tactics employed by the media to boost news ratings = dollars. Other concepts discussed, are that of mass consumption of durable goods which most often leads, in many cases, to debilitating debt accumulation and possibly in the end, blackmail. This consumption based capitalistic belief continues for the "good of the economy," while landfills are bursting at the seams and local environments are being destroyed with the previous fad thrown out for the ever changing "new technology." There appears, on the surface, to be no real regard for the generations that will inherit these problems. Not because individuals don't care - I believe they care very much - however, I feel that the way in which the "Baby-Boomer" American segments of society has been led to believe that they will/should inherent that exact same care system that their parents enjoyed. This notion of entitlement is a symptom of a county that has enjoyed relative prosperity for the last 60 years. This is all about the change Big Time because of a mass, worldwide shift in demographics.

Now to bring this all around to art and where art fits in to all of this, I firmly believe for one to become a great artist and educator through art, an individual has to be committed forever to the continual development of their education - both intellectually and physically through the production of artwork. The artist/educator should continually challenge their audience to stay relevant. Thus, creating a brighter and gifted force for social change. My experiences as an artist - which has included conducting interviews, hybridizing techniques and sometimes working with collaborators - are the primary forces behind my pedagogy as an arts educator. By opening up the studio and museums (in some cases galleries) to collaboration, critical thinking and dialogue, my hope to provide humankind with possible directions rather than just single-minded opinions for addressing problems that directly affect the day to day lives of all of us.

Thank you for your time and I sincerely hope you find the works thought provoking and maybe even a little personal at times.

Gary Crook, Artist
garycrookartist@hotmail.com