Surprisingly – despite his minimalist, clean, graphic style – Joshua Rex cut his teeth with oil paintings. He’s a self-taught artist who moved back to the area a couple months ago from Connecticut. Seems he picked up a completely new artistic process along with the move…out with another’s style and in with his own. (Funny how a little time in a moving van can really change your outlook.)
“I like to think of my art as billboards in various stages of decomposition… vandalized either by people or by time itself – forgotten images.”
The following excerpts are from a conversation we had at his studio over in the St. Clair-Superior Arts District – he explains his work a lot better than I could ever hope to…especially after a few rum-and-pineapples.
—Ian P.E.
Contact Joshua via email at info@joshuarexart.com, and you can see some more of his work at: myspace.com/joshuarex
“I began with oil paintings, worked with that for awhile, and honed my drawing skills – I’m self taught…and I eventually just kind of stumbled upon this style. I did a painting of a place back in Rhode Island that’s torn down too (I think that’s kind of a theme in my work)…and I felt that it just came out so good that I’d reached another point.”
“I started doing these paintings off an idea to do something that reminded me of pinned-down butterflies, categorizing things within different slots for different things. I used some found images from the local library as reference and everything just kind of fell into place.”
“It’s a lion from an old jungle exhibit at an amusement park – and it’s basically just these caged beasts that are brought in and put on these slabs. I found it very striking and thought it really deserved to be seen by a larger group of people, rather than just someone sorting through the library like myself. And its expression is just so strange to me, it’s so distant. It’s called ‘Amarna’ after Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh who worshipped the sun… [Amarna] is this temple he built for this new religion. It’s something of the memory, something abstract. Being trapped in a cage like that – there’s something you miss.”
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[Akhenaten reformed the Egyptian's worshop from the god of fertility - Amun, to the sun god - Aten, who was the original god worshipped by the first dynasties of Egypt who built the pyramids - He started a new city away from Thebes called Aketaten, because Thebes was too Amun styled for his tastes...He was also known as one of the first advocates of monotheism...and his wife was nefertiti, famous for being one of the hottest babes of the ancient world] – IPE.
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“I use guache, ink, some acrylic and duct tape – I like to use a lot of masking tape and such…whatever is going to make it look real. I mean [my work] is obviously not some super detailed realism skill thing, but when you see it from a distance, it has that impression off of a glance. And when you get up to it – it’s just all these blurs and blobs. It’s an amalgamation of all sorts of things – I think that’s how style happens, and I just feel fortunate that it happened to me at all…and it’s happened this early, where I feel like I can really hone things now, which I’ve done since I’ve been back here now over the last couple months.”
“In twenty years, these works are going to look pretty decayed, pretty yellow – they’re definitely going to evolve over time. I put a little note on them that basically says that this passes from my hands to yours and whatever happens – happens. Also, I put a little disclaimer that if the tape falls off, then put some more on…you know, I don’t think you should alter the piece, but…you can do some stuff to it, I don’t care – they’re not holy relics or anything. I like them to be livable, workable art.”
“I was helping my dad rip apart this house that was just in ruins, ripping out all the plaster…you know – wooden slats and mice jumping out at you! Anyway, we ripped open this one wall and this picture fell out – of this woman sitting in a chair, looking at the camera…and I flipped it over and it said: ‘I WAS HERE’. And it was the creepiest thing! I just flipped it back over and was like – wow, that’s pretty strange. And that’s kind of the inspiration for that piece.”
“I hear all these things about Cleveland being declined, but for what’s that worth, the arts scene is really good. And I’m really excited to be a part of that…there’s a lot of people looking for new things and for something to be a part of.”
