Culture Surfing - Dave MacDowell puts 4 on the Floor

Lowbrow artist Dave MacDowell asks a lot of pointed questions in his works, often challenging paradoxical notions that come out in wild and wacked-out acrylics on canvas. They’ll be on full display with those of Jessica Elaine Blinkhorn, Emma Mount and Brandi Read 4 on the Floor at the Gallery at East Atlanta Tattoo on Friday, July 19.

Drive-ins: “As a little kid, I was always blown away by the art of Norman Rockwell and the caricatures in MAD magazine. Yet what influenced me most was seeing millions of films at the drive-in. I was kind of homeless and lived out of a car with my mom, and the drive-in was a place that you could watch four movies in a row, and park your car overnight to sleep in with no problems from the fuzz. It was like forbidden fruit, being exposed to a cinematic underground of fake sex and badly staged gore.”

Walt Disney as media mind maker: “As a kid, I bought into the whole fantasy hook, line and sinker. Didn’t everybody? I was always hypnotized by the art of Disney and the life his artists created in the hand-drawn line. As an adult, I realize that it’s all marketing genius. Everyone is a potential customer and the brainwashing is indicative to our cultural bent on mass consumption and quick thrills. To create a want for something that you don’t need is the biggest flim-flam known to man. How positively evil, and I can’t believe that brainwashing through media is legal!”

Will to power: “I always had a visual talent but never harnessed it until around two years ago. A close family member died, and the gods of mortality kicked my butt. One day my spirit snapped and the mantra became ‘I’m going to get Rich and Famous.’ I don’t know where the thought came from, because I’m not a ‘money’ person, and know that fame is an illusion. Ever since that day, I’ve been painting 10 hours a day.”

Artistic isolation: “Sitting at an easel for two years has taken its toll on my social life. I used to be a warped superachiever who drank pots of coffee, had 10 girlfriends and lived life in the fast lane. Being a full-time artist is a 180-degree turnabout. To focus inward for so long requires the discipline of a monk in a cave.”