John Rainbow

John Rainbow - Nov. 26, 2005

I've been looking back at the work I made with the collaborative group, John Rainbow. At the time (2004-2007) we considered what we were doing to be involved with (juvenile) humor, populist ideals, narrative, and a lack of heavy or serious content. I can say that maybe our goal was to be philosophically set up against the Avant-Garde, and the exclusive nature of art. Maybe we were shooting for kitsch and didn't know it?

 John Rainbow - Hot Shit

 Unfortunately we were still dependent on the academic and exhibition system to disseminate our drawings, sculptures, and performances. But, this was and still is a base line that flows through my work... and the work of the other people that were involved in the group: Neil Vine (Gavin Bunner), Mr. Pine (Dan Mrva), Richard Maple (me), and Lane Woodbridge (Stephanie Lebak). (Our names are made through the "porn name" process of taking your middle name for given name, and the name of the street you grew up on as the surname.)

 

John Rainbow - Boop, Bop, Bleep

How has John Rainbow effected my growth? I think I employ some of the tactics form John Rainbow, but in more subtle ways. It can be seen more in my Interventions. There is a lot of play, pleasure, and humor in these works; but most of all, they are made for the everyday public - not an art audience. I understand that through the few times I have exhibited these as photographs (and at least me posting them here) I am putting them into the "art world". I guess a question here is, how do I want to present myself? Meaning, how do my intentions as an artist align themselves with this problem of audience and access?

Adam Farcus - Menards, Joliet, IL (store intervention and digital photograph) 2009

The group is still together (with only me, Mrva, and Bunner)... but on hiatus till we figure out how to collaborate between Chicago, L.A., and Bloomington, IN.