I came across this picture, and it was a dog that had gotten frozen in the snow somehow, and other animals had come in and ravaged this dog â so it was just like a dog frozen in the snow standing up, but all of its middle was eaten out, and there was just the rib cage. It didnât disturb me in any way, I just thought, âWhoa, that looks like a metaphor.â Right? Iâm always just thinking about things in kind of cannibalistic artist terms.
So I post this picture, and it didnât even occur to me that it would be upsetting to people. It actually didnât occur to me, and it turned out lots of people were horrified by this. And Iâm just going, âI just see a metaphor. I didnât see⊠Gee, this is, I mean, this is nature. What do you want?â
The same, I think, a lot of times goes for the work that I make â because I do things because Iâd think that theyâd be cool or beautiful or they make me feel that kind of effervescence in my stomach, and I get excited about it.
I am usually totally blindsided when people think itâs odd. I guess my short answer is that my needle for what is normal or shocking or strange is so different from, I guess, a number of people. I have no idea what people are going to think or like. I have no idea. Iâve not necessarily ever tried to know, and Iâm always shocked by what people do and donât respond to.
So I donât know. I mean, I would rather have a mantle of strangeness than a mantle of middle of the road.
