My perception of art seems to change with every group of artists I see, hear, and talk about. As I get to know more artists and people who show much interest in it, I tend to see very little in trends, and that’s how it should be.
Richard Stremme was interesting to me because he followed a different path than most people. As a student, anyone who doesn’t follow a “Pre-Med -> Medical School -> Hospital” schooling approach is different. However, unlike my parents, I’m not appalled by straying away from that path; in fact, I am more intrigued. Having parents that immigrated here meant that I was exposed to very few “viable” ways of making it in the “New World.” I don’t understand why parents were so fixated on that, but I think it plays a huge impact on the culture of different groups of people.
Back to Stremme. I really enjoyed his paraphernalia, especially the comics, home-made pins, and the various albums. I was, of course, born in an era without much big record disks, so I was intrigued by that. I also liked the fact that he was able to communicate his journey through the arts in a way that didn’t cost him his livelihood; I perceive many artists to be sacrificing their financial security in the pursuit of “happiness,” but it seems to me that he is happy where he is and has no regrets of what he has done so far. He became a successful artist not because he sold huge record labels, but because he made his own living and was happy doing it.
Society places these concrete expectations of “good job, good money, good life,” when this is simply not true. People like simple and often hasty generalizations that lead to an “easy way” to success, but clearly does not work. Money is only so powerful because we all buy into the system. We all need food, and with that comes a profound dependence on money to survive, and thus, to live. Most of the things we see are made with and bought with money. We depend on a bunch of digits on a screen, a plastic RFID Chip card, or composite mixes of paper and cotton to create our livelihoods.
That part has nothing to do with Stremme. I just found his creations very interesting. Art that tries to be different from “mainstream” art is also very cool, and very “hipster.”