A quote that shaped many of Rich Stremme’s ideas about art was

“If your art doesn’t reflect something of the oppression of your society – why bother?” – Chinua Achebe.

He was first introduced to it in his college years but from his early artwork it is evident that he identified with this idea. In his career, Stremme dedicated his work to preserving what he calls “Underbelly Americana.” It is a term that he coined to refer to everything that is unconventional and mostly self-taught but rooted deeply in the “historic or “conquered” America. At an early age he became interested in a style of music that wasn’t conventionally accepted and couldn’t be monetized but it reflected the values and the spirit of the people who became involved with it. When he became part of a band he was largely a self-taught musician, much like many other members in the group. They made music for the sake of making music and not for the sake of making money. Later he became involved with a graffiti artist Rev who shared the passion for underground art. Rev was daring and went to great lengths to pursue this because he felt that it was important for the underground art to leave its mark on New York City, and it definitely did. Rich said that he believes that any artist should be approachable and available to his fans because he believes in creating an experience for the audience rather than just putting out a product. This is reflected in his poetry and the later art he became involved in, which was tattooing. Creating tattoos is the ultimate medium of interaction between the artist and the viewer because both are involved in the process of creating the finished project. He said that a tattoo artist is just as emotionally invested in the piece as the person who will wear the tattoo and for this reason he is extremely careful with accepting tattoo requests. All of Rich’s work supports that he doesn’t believe that the objective of art is making money. For him, the objective is to preserve traditions of the “underground” art scene and make something that has meaning to somebody. His goal is not to reach the whole world and it is not to achieve acceptance or be applauded by everybody.  As long as his art has meaning to some people or even himself, it is enough for him because being an underground artist is his passion.  I really enjoyed his presentation and I have great respect for his artwork and outlook on life.