EN MASSE PROJECT
The bigger picture of what I do is incomplete without drawing attention to the EN MASSE project (EM). This vastly significant leg of my artistic journey is designed to explore the unbounded potential of shared creativity, working in close partnership with an ever-expanding number of artists internationally.
EN MASSE
The name comes from a French expression, meaning “as a whole” or “all together”.
EM is a multi-artist collaborative drawing project that creates highly spontaneous, boldly graphic black-and-white works of art. The process unfolds in waves of increased compositional complexity, not unlike improvised jazz, the spinning of a drunken spider’s web, or the shattered glass of a windshield.
It is a social practice, fundamentally rooted to a Dadaist spirit of play, designed to dissolve boundaries between high and low brow culture.
The process is always prized over the final product, which extends itself beyond the boundaries of white-walled artistic institutions, finding home in our streets, parks, and public spaces. Everyday settings help the audience feel more at ease in accepting an invitation to see the world differently.
ALL TOGETHER
These monochromatic collaborations are embodied learning spaces where participants from all walks of life champion cooperation over compromise, and where polarized viewpoints are celebrated as strengths, not weaknesses.
A collaborative mindset encourages us to move beyond superficial, transactional exchange in our relationships, toward nurturing transformational connections characterized by emotional availability, personal growth, and long-term mutual support.
As a whole, EM is a participatory practice designed to remind us of our dreams, and to affirm our deeply human need to belong.
COMMUNICATION
The EM process, though deceptively simple, addresses many potent sociological and political issues without ever needing to wave a flag.
Solutions to the vast majority of mankind’s problems seed invariably from the same source; a community’s capacity for co-management of shared resources.
Enhancing a community’s capacity for effective co-management is key, thriving on a foundation of good communication. Effective communication is the bond that holds collaborative efforts together, enabling us to work harmoniously toward a common goal through relationships built on trust.
The impact good communication has on life is profound and far-reaching.
ROLE OF ART
The ever-evolving role of street art and muralism in public life has become one the most powerful and evocative art movements in recorded history. It globally defies obstacles of language, culture and politics as the walls of nearly every city turn into a vast social network where artists and audience alike experience and understand each other.
Creativity is a universal language. EM affirms that all humans have creative potential
As Hugo Ball expressed it:
“For us, art is not an end in itself … but it is an opportunity for the true perception and criticism of the times we live in.”
SOCIAL PRACTICE
It took me a hot minute to understand the EM project as a body of personal work. It wasn’t until a 2016 trip to China that this reality fully sunk in.
The enormous administrative effort involved in keeping these black and white collaborations alive since 2009 outlines the foundation of what could be called a social practice.
This is a genre of art focused on engagement through interaction, collaboration, and social discourse across a wide spectrum of issues.
These efforts have brought to my work a wide spectrum of unconventional tools that i would never have anticipated learning or using as an artist. The value of these tools on my path has been undeniable, though they are not without cost. With only so much time in a day, project administrative burdens have resulted in less time for me to develop my personal practice as an artist, refining my relationship to craft.
For the many ways in which i deeply believe in the power of shared creativity, as embodied by the EM project, I’d make that sacrifice every day, which only manages to offend certain aspects of my ego.
AGENT OF CHANGE
I’m passionate about the project’s ongoing capacity to be an agent of positive change in our world, emphasizing the value of process over the final product.
As a painter of hundreds of murals internationally, I have directly witnessed the incredible capacity of public art to help people see the world around them differently.
Street Art has become one of the most explosive global art movements in history. From humble grassroots, the contemporary world of muralism grew up from seeds planted by Chicago-based African American and Hispanic community-driven murals in late 60’s, by people who realized these works as tools for emancipation.
Art can be a powerful agent of change.
