John D. Graham
American, born Ukraine. 1886-1961
Two Sisters 1944
Oil, enamel, pencil, charcoal, and casein on board
I spent many a days in the year twenty twenty-five feeling exactly like a FOOL. And not in a playful fun way like I am pictured on this album cover from my eleven minute satirical rap project released nearly a decade ago under the artist name Ankhle Conscious. Late night antics with my creative partner TK on a ride back to Brooklyn, I snagged a brown paper bag, popped in two holes for eyes and asked her to snap a photo. Typically my creative process is a mix of foundational but loose skeletal ideas and spontaneous additions. I don't linger and contemplate too hard. I allow and trust for things to fall into place. It's been my practice across disciplines, I've basically been cultivating for more than two decades. In rigid moments where I feel the FOOL. I have to soften up and remember to be as I am when crafting my art. My life is a living art project and treating it as such brings me present. Nevermind in retrospect a lot of the music I recored in the span of about fifteen years relays messages for my present and future self. It grounds me. Reminds me that I am in fact not a FOOL. but a genius here to create, be expansive and shine abundantly.
What messages does your past creative work, journals and or notes have to say to your present self?
