People's Champ
..........................................................................................Vince Ballentine
 |
| Dodsworth mural. "If you set the bar high, you can only keep going higher." |
The magic in art is vision. Images offer us ourselves, our
worlds, reflected back.... but with what more? Is it the sight of what lives below the
surface: depths otherwise unavailable to us? What dwells there? What does it know? What happens if I touch it?
Years ago, I set out to become a teacher of the literatures that have given me the most - meaning, clarity, purpose - literatures primarily of tribes that have been marginalized,
in some cases to the point of extinction. I said I wanted to ensure that these
important voices were heard. I didn’t go that particular road, but it is still
my path.
A year ago I realized that a lot of emerging artists around me were
also saying important things that I believed the world needed to hear. I write
this blog to listen to, meditate on, and amplify those voices. Voices I believe
are essential.
I met Vince Ballentine right around the time I realized I needed to add
this artist interview element to The Mother’s Nature. He’s one of the people
who drove home for me this obligation I have
–with pleasure– to ensure that vital artists’ voices are heard. One thing that
struck me about Vince’s work was that his street art speaks so loudly to so
many people – in my neighborhood, and in others. It resonates deeply, not only
for the sheer beauty, the presentation, the sensitivity of the
paint, or the ideas carried, but for the presence. His portraits and scapes are
living, breathing, they have a pulse. You almost cannot look away until you
have fully acknowledged who is
looking out of the paint, just as we would not evade the eyes of a living
person whose gaze we have met until an acknowledgement of soul is exchanged.
Vince’s paintings are as dynamic as humanity, and for this reason, they
possess the power to reflect back to us not only who we are – but, like living
water, that which lies below the surface, far more than we have yet conceived. Vince’s
paintings are, for me, possessed paint. They show me what I have not yet seen by asking me to look again,
not with a shout or demand, but with the powerful gaze of a man who knows
himself. Meet Vince…
 |
| Vince Ballentine, artist |
PAINTING: From the Beginning
when did you start painting?
V: the first time I ever remember doing something creative, I was
drawing. I couldn’t be more than 5 years old. And I was so proud of it and my
mother, she looked at it and she said, “oh, that’s so good, yadda yada!” I
remember drawing the whole thing. It was like the first thing I could be proud
of, like, “look: I did it!” And everybody was like “oh, ok, that’s cool! That’s
cool! Yay!” and I remember Uncle Andre.
I love Uncle Andre to death, but he takes one look at it and he’s like,
“why’s the head so big? Arms all little. Why you mess up the face like that!?
You’re s’posed to color in the lines!
That’s the best you can do?” That’s what he gave me and I was kinda like,
“damn.”
sad face.
V: very sad face, you know what I mean. I wish I could speak emoji
right now, that’s what happened.
i’ll put an emoji poop in the interview transcript.
V: right: a little poop, next to my face as a 5 year old: be like
DAYUM! Defeated. But it was interesting though because that was my first taste
of criticism. That was my first critique at 5 years old.
and plenty of detail along with that critique.
V: yeah, yeah, yeah! Well, see the one thing about a critique is it’s
criticism, but it’s constructive. When it’s family members who aren’t creative,
they just see what’s wrong with it.
As an artist it’s funny because you always
see it wrong and you’re always trying to perfect it. So even when somebody be
like, “that’s the most incredible thing I’ve seen!” I’m looking at it and I’m
like, “yeah, well I fucked up here, here, here, here and here. That’s bad, this
is bad.” Until the point where it’s kinda like some Bob Ross happy
imperfections type stuff. You know, little happy mistakes and stuff.
So… I think that’s the constant quest.
what was your reaction to Uncle Andre?
V: the most immediate reaction was, “oh, yeah, well, I’m gonna show
you!” So it turns into the next one. And then next one was kinda like, you
know, “that’s better.” It wasn’t good, “but it was better than that last piece
of trash you showed me!” I mean, like, “Did you burn that yet? You still have that? Why would you even keep
that!? It’s horrible!” This one was like, you know, a smidge better than that!
So a long story short, that’s what progressed into where we are today.
what’s the next memory after the age of 5?
 |
| 5 year old Vince |
mm hmm, yeah…
V: so, high school kid, again, the same thing. Everyone’s just like,
“ok, you’re good.” I had Mr Brown, Malcolm Brown. He’s just like worldwide
dude. Again, love that dude to death, he gave two fucks about teaching us to do
art. He would give us a little synopsis at the very beginning of the class:
“ok, here’s how you make a landscape. Ok, go make a landscape!” If you missed
it, you missed it! Snap – like, “yadda yadda, horizon. Get it! Go!” and then he
would sit down and work on his own personal paintings that he was gonna sell later
for thousands of dollars. But at the same time though I was like, “well, he’s
at least a legitimate artist, out there really doing it so!” Go for it, salut!
It wasn’t him, ‘cause he’s the one that actually wrote my college
recommendation.
It was Mr Hoffman.
evil eye, throwing shade!
V: Draggin – D-R-A-G-G-I-N-G! Mr Hoffman down the street by his
nostrils
by his flaring, smoking nostrils!
V: punk! We’re going around the room and everybody’s saying what
college they’re going to, this is AP Art. So this is the only advanced
placement class I got, you know what I mean! Everything else is like… I was in
Science. It wasn’t even like it was special or nothing. Was like, “you in biology?”
What kind of science is it? It’s science! Dude, science class. Yo, they took
our frogs away! They were like, “if y’all can’t get it together, y’all ain’t
doing shit!” We didn’t dissect shit, we just watched shows about it.
So, we’re going around the classroom, we’re all asking, “where you going?”
One guy’s Parsons, another guy is Carnegie Mellon, “I’m going to Cooper Union.”
I’m going to these different schools.
those are some swanky schools!
V: exactly! And then uh, at the time I had got accepted to the art
institute in Chicago.
that’s good!
V: yeah, I felt somewhat proud! And the thing is, it’s not like we went
and visited a bunch of schools. We went to Chicago, to that school, and I got in, and that was it. It wasn’t like we
visited eight schools and all this. Naw: “you wanna go here? Ok, you gonna go
here then!” And, um, everybody’s going around the classroom and he gets to me
and I was like, “yo, I’m going to the SAIC in Chicago.” And he’s like, “how!?”
It was like, “hey, you’re my teacher!”
It took everything in me not to like jump scissor kick this dude smooth in his
neck!
“Bruh, what- what do you mean, ‘how?!’
cause I didn’t get a recommendation from YOU?”
Dude, how did I, like, manage that? I
know other people besides you, punk!
Which actually leads to the next story of rejection when I was at the
art institute. Literally, in Chicago it was the first time I did a fine art spray
paint piece and the first time I got arrested for the shit, so… it was a nice
little flip, you see what I mean? Museum… Jail…
Coming from Cleveland, we had our artists that I really respected and I
was able to connect with and all this good stuff, but again, it was just in
Cleveland so I knew what that was. Going to Chicago was mind-blowing. I’m out
in Chicago and I show my art work, and the teacher goes, “eh.”
“Eh?!” what, what do you mean, “eh?” This shit is nice, like I did the
– it’s fresh.
“No… no… do better.”
So I felt like, “this motherfucker just Uncle Andre-ed me!” Dayum! But
at the same time though, he was critiquing everybody. So the people that I saw
– there were people in the class that I was looking at like, “this
motherfucker’s incredible! Why are you here?! Why aren’t you out there making
money already?! You have no business being in art school, period. Cause, cause,
just cause – for what?!”
And then he would look at mine and give me an accurate critique – it
wasn’t necessarily under the critique of someone that was really refined. So I
felt good about that. But long story short is, I saw his work and I respected
it, so it was ok.
And then he tells me, “go take the train north, sit by the window.”
Again, I’m a young punk kid, so I think I know everything. I’m the
dopest shit in the world. I get on that train and my face was glued to the
window ‘cause it was like, “oh, that’s incredible, that’s incredible, that’s
incredible, holy shit, that’s dope.” I wanted to stop the train and get off and
walk from that point, let me just examine this shit, by myself, for myself. What is this?
Uniqueness and individuality – lines that people were using, the depth
of the images, expression of characters, colors and styles, the different
letters, and all of it happened in the cloak of night, couldn’t see shit, getting
bitten by rats…. And you still achieved all that!?
That realllly exploded my
head. And I hadn’t done that much, you know. I started to understand – with the
help of art school for sure— line weight and how to find parts. Art is very
mathematical as well, visually mathematic.
yeah, we had classes where she would hit the clock and you couldn’t
pick up your pen for 27 minutes or whatever it was. You had to commit.
V: yeah! Yeah… Ink pen, that’s like my favorite medium in the world
because you can get so many variations of depth with that one tool: you can go
really dark with the pen, you can go light; it’s amazing.
But that’s where it starts to lead everywhere else, so – left Chicago,
went to Philly. Philly: learned a whole bunch, oh my god, what’s going on.
Moved out to Cali. Cali: learned a whole bunch, oh my god, this is crazy. Go to
New York, same difference. And the beauty of it is that I can finally see different.
It’s immediate: you can see your progress. I wish I still had the Uncle
Andre piece to be dead-ass honest with you!
why are you so motivated to get better— be better?
V: everyone has a purpose; everyone has a reason to be here. I want to be
acknowledged, I want to be recognized for what I do. I could be considered the
best to like 8 people, but to me that’s the base. Always wanted to be great at
my thing. I always was a niche person… in the niche world that I’m in – I want
to be one of the best to do it.
SEEING: Believing
V: I’m starting to see things— I mean, it’s always a progression of
seeing things, but, since I quit that job: hooray!
hooray!
V: i’m not gonna knock on the job ‘cause that shit was there when I needed
it! But, getting out and being able to paint, my skill set went from zero to 60
real quick. I started to develop so fast! And then having to work fast – over
the summer I did a piece for NYC Spread Art on Dodsworth — that was the one that
you came to help me with, the two story one, with the scaffolding, that was two
days. To be able to do a piece in two days now- meant you had to commit to a
stroke and leave it. It wasn’t a bunch of fixing, tweaking, this, that and the
third. There’s a high, there’s a low, move on! Colors just stack on top of each
other. You’re cutting within that, move on! As opposed to, let’s say, before
even with characters where you have to push it to find what it is, to find the shapes…
pull out the personality…
V: yeah - having all of those elements together now, just through the
progression of seeing.
one thing I hear is: you’re deep in the actual physical activity of
making work, which is not the case for everyone.
V: you mean they don’t actually like
painting!?
no. some artists are just more concept-driven. It’s more about “I have
an idea, I have something I wanna say, I’m just gonna find a way to say it.” You
talk about the involvement of getting into a line and following the line,
developing a line.
V: yeah
and clearly the challenge of having to put something on the wall, let
it be what it is, right? You can’t tweak it. It’s gonna be there and you gotta
work with it and then you’re gonna walk away.
V: you have to believe in your line.
yeah! And you have to be able to see. you have to have more vision
sooner.
V: not even, you just have to be happy with how it lays. There’s
abstraction to everything, that’s where stylization comes from, so, if I make
an eyebrow, for instance, right? I make this eye and then I put this thick
descriptive eyebrow on it. Now if you do that with one stroke then it’s,
depending on how that stroke is – is it wavy, is it straight, is it curved– that
becomes dictated by your style. Your style becomes how you see, create, flow. You
know how they say your first impulse is usually your best impulse. That’s
exactly how painting is. So the same way as you could make a line and then
wanna correct it. No, you made the mark already. What’s the next mark after
that?
So, you’re looking at balance from the very first line. It’s like the
game of chess even. The game starts with the very first move. That very first
move is pivotal.
perfect metaphor
V: it’s life or death right there.
PRESENTING: Stepping In
V: Sometimes the conceptual artists: that’s all they got! And, for what
it’s worth, I don’t always respect that, the overly conceptual artist, for the
simple fact that anybody can do it. It becomes a point where if it’s open for
interpretation, then it’s open for interpretation. If you can’t immediately say
if I like it or I don’t like it, that says something right there. There should
be an immediate reaction.
that person didn’t have an authentic experience?
V: yeah. Yeah, yeah, but at the same time, be able to cross different
platforms. I know some conceptual artists that are very elitist; it’s like they
got on some special 3-D glasses that nobody else has. It’s like, “I see the
world for how it really is; you’re just too dumb to know.”
so, what do you want, what type of experience do you want the viewer of
your work to have?
V: immediate! If you think about it, predominantly, my work is on the street,
so it’s for people that don’t have background. For people that could even give
two fucks about some art work. So if you’re gonna give ‘em something , you
gotta give ‘em something! They could
have walked by something for six years, and until you point it out, they’re
like, “I never knew that that was there!”
So, knowing that, you have to immediately already engage people.
so they shouldn’t have to do any digging, no context, nothing?
V: no. There should always be levels. Let’s say it like this: the
presentation of it needs to be finely crafted. That’s one thing that can’t be
mistaken. If something is finely done, you can see the curves in it, the line,
the detail – that’s immediately gonna get your attention. And after it has your
attention, then what happens?
That’s what I mean. I’ll do a piece and it’ll immediately – even just
by sheer size— it’ll be so big that you’re just like, “this is big as hell!”
And that’s actually a good way to think of it, too: it’s so big that you can’t
get it, ‘cause you’re IN it!
You have to take a step back, and I think that metaphor reflects on
most art in general. Some people’s concepts can be so big that they can’t get
into it.
yeah, for sure!
V: but it’s not a matter of stepping back, it’s a matter of stepping in.
absolutely, yes!
V: and I don’t think that a lot of people care to do that, especially
when it’s an extremely conceptual piece that isn’t immediately finely crafted.
I’m gonna quote this guy’s work, Dasic Fernandez. He does these mad colorful
images, of let’s just say a woman, for instance, and she might be in a puddle
or something so you see her reflection in the puddle, and they’re massive. He has
one over on Broadway, but the beauty of it is, it’s immediately engaging. The
first thing you do is look at it and say, “ho! Whoa!” but then you keep saying,
“whoa!” And you start realizing the drips are coming off of her so, where is
gravity? Why is the gravity negative? Why is she in this position? Why – the
conversation just continues, and continues and continues and it can open up
doors that other people don’t see. You know what I mean?
As opposed to (laughing), the flip side of that is a lot of modern
conceptual art, it’s just like, “bruh, this is a blank canvas! But I’m not
smart enough to know what you’re doing with this right now?!” (teeth sucking)
Get the fuck out of here, kick rocks! (laughing) You know what I mean?
YES!
V: ‘cause if that’s the case, if I’m not smart enough to understand
your art, then – you’re not smart enough to survive where I live every day. If
you can’t walk a mile in my shoes I won’t
walk a mile in yours! Meet me half way and we can both go there.
ohhhh!
V: so, long story short – if you see that painting with a red dot,
anybody can do it! When they have to differentiate between “is this a
well-known millionaire artist” or “is this a 5 year old,” and people are
confused about which is which, that should tell you something about what it is
that they looking at.
As opposed to if you see some of these street dudes who don’t have that
same education, that same background, they don’t have the same motivation, they
just wanna go do some dope shit, and you walking past some shit, like Dasic’s
or uh, Dasic and Ruben have done some work lately; uh, there’s Danielle
Mastrion, she’s done some fantastic stuff; Shiro does the same character over
and over again, but I love it every time I see it. But it speaks to the people
that are lookin’ at it.
And there’s a lot more of us walking that block than there are people
who have season’s passes to the Met. That’s for real. There’s a lot more people
that are playing pick-up basketball than have been to Madison Square Garden. So
let’s take it out of their hands and let’s give it back to the people.
so that’s who you’re painting for?
V: the people. Definitely. Definitely.
 |
| Halsey Dreamway: "Mine is out in the world, yours is in a museum." |
VINCE: The Anti-Narcissus
we’ve talked around a good amount of space without actually talking
about what you wanna say.
V: the mural on Halsey, on the Dreamway, with the big Indian headdress
girl, ‘cause that one set it off in so many different ways. So a kid walked by.
And one of the organizers, actually, yet again, Tatu, man, love him to death!
He was the founder of Xmental Inc. He was one of the ones sponsoring the wall.
He said, “we have homework on everybody else but you! We didn’t know about
you.”
“Oh, word!? Alright, just let me paint first, and if it’s not good,
then shit on me then.”
Halfway done, he was just like— his boy was even like, “yo, if you use
these caps you might be able to-” and then Tatu was like, “man, you should be
teaching!”
A kid walks by and says, “I wanna paint.” Say, “I wanna paint.” That’s
dope. I got that kid wanting to paint. And the beauty of it is, I want the kid
to say, “I don’t wanna mess it up, though,” which means that “I’m really gonna
concentrate right now.” That’s what I want.
And then the second one was one of the promoters comes by like, “if I was
a little girl seeing this, I would be so impressed. Because it’s not many
images of us out there.” You don’t see large, beautiful pictures of black
people. It just says something when it’s inclusive, when it speaks to
everybody! Instead of a lot of pieces where if you’re not this black person, you’re not Rakim, if you’re not Biggie, if
you’re not – this type person, we
ain’t got no holla for you. I really should stay away from that.
so, what’s the conversation? What’s your conversation?
V: that’s exactly what I’m saying, is the fact that everybody is on their expression, and I don’t wanna be
brutal, but – fuck your expression.
Your expression should be reflective of what you’re coming from. So,
when I’m in Bed-Stuy, I’m doing Bed-Stuy shit. I’m doing shit for the people
that live there. Cause after you leave, your piece is still there, but you are
gone.
So, true and deep: think of it on a level of graffiti, cause graffiti
gets wiped out, but I do a piece of art that’s actually gonna be there for a minute
and represent some shit, do something that’s really gonna be there and represent
some shit!
so to you it’s really more about holding up a mirror.
V: holding up a mirror and exposing things that people don’t see, like
colors. There’s a lot of blight – so people are used to these drab colors,
rusted out, blown out buildings, you know what I mean. And there’s this bright
spot. It’s not for everybody, but when I was a kid and I got Uncle-Andre-ed,
and I got crapped on by the high school teacher: let me have a piece that I can
go to and reflect on and say, “ok, but this is the type of stuff that I wanna
do, because this is the type of stuff that I admire.” And actually have something
in the world that exists. It exists so someone else can exist with it, and not
have to go to a museum. Not have to go to a gallery. Not have to know somebody
who knows somebody to get a glimpse of this thing that’s supposed to be
precious ‘cause Banksy did it!
See something that wasn’t there before: that’s the main thing – it was
a dirt wall before. Look at it now.
I don’t understand how people can not like that. How do you not like
that?
i think what you’re telling me is that the conversation is actually:
you’re painting to have a
conversation. That’s what the painting is about.
V: definitely, definitely. When I leave, what am I leaving? Once you
know how to paint – what are you painting?
When people look at it, what do they say?
 |
| Bushwick Puerto Rican Community Mural."I'm a conduit." |
THE PEOPLE: Listening
so, is you getting better as a painter about you being able to hear and
respond better?
V: definitely, but I think that’s inherent though. That’s just a part
of the process.
oh, it’s not, my love, it’s not!
V: if your journey is to get better then you have to be able to soak in
so much – and be able to give a LOT.
the reason why you’re getting better is so you can see better, so you
can hear better, and so you can respond better?
V: yeah
i’ve never heard that. And you actually started saying this at the very
beginning of the conversation when you described the train ride. You really
want this engagement.
V: yeah!
because there’s actually no conversation without the engagement.
V: yeah… yeah, yeah! I want 5 year old Vince to look at this and be
like, “man, that’s what I’m gonna be like in the future!?” I’m gonna be looking
at my Uncle Andre and then I’m gonna look at 2016 Vince and be like, “I’m gonna
be that!? when I’m thirty-something
years old!?”
“Word! Let me just keep going then,” you know what I mean?! Really push the envelope! Do something that’s
really gonna be provocative, have a conversation.
Case in point, we’ve talked about this before. We can talk about all
types of police brutality, we can talk about disenfranchisement, we can talk
about prison industrial complex, but nobody’s actually gonna talk about racism. Let’s just talk about that.
Let’s just talk about what the core problem is. Let’s just talk about money, and how these people got it and
these people don’t.
It’s like if – let’s say somebody has a malignant tumor in their leg and
someone says, “ok, we have to go through her neck to get there.” Like, “what?”
That doesn’t make any sense. Like why would you – just go to the tumor and
knock the tumor out, ‘cause then in the process of you going through the neck
to get to the leg you done fucked up all types of shit on the way down! Now you
gotta fix everything that you fucked up trying to get to the initial problem.
another perfect metaphor.
V: you still got a limp, like, “why am I dying!?”
people like to do that, we like to get our ass kicked all over the
place before we make any changes.
V: honestly – I feel like black folks been saying it forever. We’ve
been like, “no, the problem is you keep smacking us in the face” and other
nationalities, whatever, will say like, “well, we don’t understand.” It’s like,
how about this, “leave me alone, first. I’m not trying to get revenge, I’m not
trying to come back and hunt you down, I’m not trying to rape your women and
sell drugs in your community. That’s not what I’m trying to do.”
TALKING: Coquis, Black People & White People
V: i’m a conduit. That’s what I do. I’m gonna represent y’all. If they
call me to do me – then like the Indian headdress, that was more me. I felt like
these are things that can be represented in a different way without exploiting
it, you know?
If I go out here and paint pictures of black people on the walls, it
gets looked at funny. Real talk. People look at it like, “huh,” they don’t
necessarily get it. Let somebody else go up here and paint some African people
and people love it. Because of the stylization, because of this, that and the
third. I was like, “no, it’s because you saw who was doing it.” That’s some real shit that I go through with all
the time.
Flip of that, a friend was in Brownsville working with this group,
doing this thing at the bottom that says, “black girls matter.” And a black
girl approached: “how are YOU gonna tell ME about ME, in MY neighborhood!?” She
was immediately offended by the whole thing. And the painter turns around like,
“well, first and foremost, I do have a biracial daughter.” What’s actually a
smack in the face to you, chick, is “I’m doing it. What are you doing?” Done.
Washed up! What can you say after that? You can complain about it, but
you’re not gonna do shit. And I think that’s where the conversation needs to
start. Instead of having a bunch of shit to say, NO, go DO some shit! And let’s
talk about what you did.
so, what’s the next piece of your conversation?
V: first I don’t like the fact that murals have the stigma of painting
dead people. I think we should immortalize people while they are still alive
and they can come and see it and see what impact they’ve had on the world. In a
huge mural that anybody can come and see – that’s something – so they can see if people love ‘em or hate ‘em! I still
wanna do my Blackstar piece, Mos and Kweli, I want that really bad.
from here it’s definitely – show people that we can still hold onto now, push, get behind, you know, be
motivated by. I think the THINK BIG piece, in a sense, it was different for me,
cause it was all letter based. When we
were sitting around knocking the ideas back and forth, it was, “well, we wanna
do something Biggie,” and I was like, “I’m not painting a mural of Biggie!” No,
no because it’s like 9000 murals of Biggie already! And he was like, “ok, well
it’s gotta be Biggie related.” So I threw this, he threw that. The thing was
though, to come out and to just say, “Think Big.” It just, it stuck with me to
the point where it was: “no, I HAVE to do this now!”
I’m making landmarks. I don’t know who I’m affecting. I have no idea. I
could be affecting you positively, negatively- don’t know. But, the fact that I
am affecting people is what makes the
difference. The fact that I am
causing conversation. The fact that somebody’s looking at that and they either
think it’s dope, or they don’t. They don’t have
to think- for what? Why should I care?
Make ‘em care. That’s where we come
in.
THE ARTIST: The Line
is there anything that’s lingering?
V: the fact that I feel much more the people’s champ than I do fine
artist. I don’t speak of art in these highbrow conversations. I just want that to be appreciated.
is that part of the reason why you wanna be as good as you can possibly
be?
V: no, the only reason that I do this is for me. I don’t do this for
women, for money or fame. I do this because I – I really have to do this. It’s
just that if I don’t do it, I’ll die.
yeah. Yeah, yeah!
V: that’s it.
It’s little nuances that just get you and keep you.
no, I get that, when I really get in, get in the flow, there’s definitely
something that happens – everything’s on fire, your face is on fire, your heart
is on fire. You can feel those words coming! You’re just in the line, right?
You don’t wanna get out of it.
V: yeah, yeah…
i feel like half the work I do is just – writing can be just bullshit,
it can just be work! But I work that
hard for the moment to get into the line!
V: yeah, you gotta get through it…
and that moment is rare, and it is precious and it doesn’t last that
long, Rafael’s gonna wake up or whatever is gonna happen. But I get that, I get
that.
V: yeah, yeah, yeah… Or better yet even, sometimes I’ll black out doing
stuff, it’s just a blur – I don’t really know how it happened, or what happened
– but I know that’s what’s left – and that’s kinda dope!
yeah, yeah!
V: it’s funny cause I saw something recently that I did and it’s just
like I’ve done shit from last year – and looked back and like I’m ten times
better than that now – from last year! So, whatever we’re doing we have to try
to stay on this path the best way we can, somehow. The best we can.
yeah, when you’re standing on the trail – you really like can’t step
off the trail. You have to keep – wherever it’s going, it’s going. You just
gotta—
V: yeah, you have to pull things on your trail, you can’t go get it!
yeah, no, you really can’t!
V: no. sometimes it even means food. Days will go by and I’m like – I
haven’t eaten, fuck!
POWER: What’s valuable?
is there anything that I didn’t ask you that’s important?
V: I’ll say this, a friend has a gallery that just opened. I gotta take
it out of context and put it back in context. There was a joke where the guy
says, “I hate it when people find out I’m a comedian because then all of the
sudden they just want me to start telling jokes,” and he’s just like, “yeah,
well… you know, I could just do some jokes and make y’all laugh, but usually there’s
a microphone, a stage, an environment set up, maybe someone serving drinks. It’s
a set up for me to be able to be successful in this environment. As opposed to,
you know, being at a bar in front of a bunch of drunk people who could care
less if I’m funny or not. And I don’t get paid for this. There’s no win-win for
me right now.”
It’s the same thing for art. It’s like unless you put it in a gallery
or a museum and have cosigners – then it’s not respected and appreciated the
right way. And that’s what happens with collectors versus people who just buy
art. People who just buy art, they buy things based on do they like it or not,
not realizing if they bought one, and their friend bought one and then their
other friend bought one, and then their other friend bought one, you’ve just
increased the value in what you bought! Real, whole, right, left side brain
thinking on that one, though, which we don’t get past.
Collectors will go out and decide, “ok, this guy’s hot. We’re all gonna
go in on this collection.” And now that this collection is bought, it has an
increased value. So now, when I wanna trade this in, I spent a hundred bucks,
I’m getting back two grand. That’s the kicker. That’s what a lot of people
don’t get.
The artists are the creators. We are the ones that bring those things
to life. Or the writers, the musicians. What people pay for! But the people
that have the money are the ones that feel like they hold the power.
yeah, they determine the value.
V: it’s so the other way around! But that’s how society looks at it.
right.
V: and if I can make any segue in that, understanding what is
valuable…. This money that you just gave me, that was mass produced, with a
dead president on there, made out of some flimsy piece of paper that if it
catches on fire, I have nothing now! As opposed to this creation that somebody
did, which is unique, one of one. This person might want it but I bought it
first, so now I can sell it to that person, for a hundred dollars more. I just
made money off of this creator’s person. You can’t give me a five and I’ll sell
it to somebody else for ten!
So, that’s my thing right there: understanding value. Treat people
well. Stop trying to undercut people.
Cause you’re only decreasing the value of it for yourself.
if there’s one thing I should get right, what is it?
V: how about this? Sometimes it’s face value. Sometimes there’s nothing
else, besides “what do you see?” Immediate reaction. It’s like a Rorschach
test. What do you see? “Oh, I see this. And it’s – I see a kid with glasses,
and I see the flag in there, and it looks like, kinda like a liberty type thing
going on.”
Alright, good, carry on.
 |
| "The unidentified become the leaders of these situations." |
_________________________________________________
This is the easiest interview I’ve done yet. Vince is deeply
thoughtful, illustrative and insightful; his work speaks for itself, just as he
does with his stories, language and metaphors – elucidating what he sees,
believes and manifests with far more than color, line, depth or character.
How generous of him! Not only to give work away on the streets of
Chicago, Philly, LA and Gotham, but to basically let me roam anywhere I like in
the territory where I demonstrate why seeing art is so important.
Raised in a tight nomadic family of six in a highly individualistic,
capitalistic nation, I’ve long struggled with what Amurika tells us is a paradox:
my own desire to be distinctively, recognizably individual while also equally
the member of a tribe, a pack, where I belong– and an integral member of my
herd.
Vince describes himself as wanting to be recognized for what he does. I
think this is a desire we all possess. He works hard to be good, to keep
getting better, not only so that he can be the people’s champ, a real and
insightful conduit for the community, but also so that he is acknowledged for
what he does. For many of us, creatives included, what we do is who we are.
Vince cannot separate himself from his need to create. Without his ability to
make art, he would perish; he would cease to be himself. In other posts I’ve
referred to that inner voice that tells him to paint, intuition, as the voice
of the soul, while his motivation is the will, or the muscle of his soul.
And therein lies the answer to the paradox we’ve been sold. Humans were
never meant to be self-sufficient, separate money-making incorporates. We were
born pack animals and that’s unlikely to change if it hasn’t yet over so many
millenia of evolution. We still want one thing more than anything else:
connection. The answer to that connection was and is ever present in the urge
to be what we are made to be – whatever that is. When we do what we are: we can be
seen for what we actually are. We manifest ourselves in the world. And those
manifestations are our gifts, gifts other people need. When we give what we
have, we become necessary members of our tribes – we connect, we slip into our
places like the missing pieces of a puzzle. We give our part, one of the whole
needed by the tribe to thrive. The desire to be both distinctively individual
and deeply connected to the tribe is not a paradox, but the necessary marriage
of yin and yang that allow and feed one another, making it possible for each to fulfill its
potential.
In giving what we have, we become the individuals that we are, we
become recognized—and through that recognition we connect with our tribes. The
tribe sees itself more fully in those deep pools – the eyes of the artist; the
artist sees his vision more deeply through the tribe, in which he chooses a
waking submersion.
It is so easy to be Narcissus, to see everything, including ourselves, as we want to see them. Vince's work calls us awake, makes us want to look again, to see again, to think again.
................................
Vince’s work opens at MoCADA
80 Hanson Place, Brooklyn, NY
Saturday, 7 May 2016 @ 7pm
with the work of Nia Love, Jasmine Murrell, and Everett Saunders,
curated by Marjani Forte-Saunders
You can also see his work all over New York City, at ig vballentine99,
and http://vballentine99.wix.com/vballentine, and
