Daniel St George the 2nd is a self taught artist , designer and entrepreneur living in Brooklyn, NY. When he’s not working on his art, he spends time working on his new publication “All is not Yet Lost” which will launch late 2010. I got the opportunity to speak with Daniel in my studio about his art in August 2010.
LC: What are you working on now?
DSG2: Large collages of paper mixed with text — It’s surrealist psychedelic. I’m working with familiar childhood references of cartoons like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and removing their eyes and lens to create a dark character and removing their definition. Since the eyes are “windows to the soul” I’m removing that and juxtaposing it with subtext of relationships, social standing, and money, our modern worries. I’m incorporating found books, using text to create found poetry. From there, I’m taking these and painting out words to make new statements. This process allows me to discover something within something and making it my own.
LC: Why the focus on cartoon characters?
DSG2: Cartoon characters have childhood simplicity. Our culture places such high value with these fictional characters. Since these characters are some of the first images that we’re given, at an early age, they make such an impact on our minds. I want to destroy these bonds and redefine these characters and question the viewer ‘s attachments, make them question why they hold such a high value in their mind. My goal is to replace my characters with the commercial branded characters and pull a “Bait and Switch” I want our culture to question our conditioned thoughts, shake people up and say, “How do you feel about this?” and aggressively trying to change these people‘s point of view since we are constantly being reassured that everything is ok. People need to question themselves and I feel our society is holding us back. We are now living in golden cages and need to break out. The ultimate objection is to question where they are and where they are going. I think that this is the opposite of what is happening in today’s society. We are being reinforced that everything is all right and positive. No one is saying it’s not ok, and it is ok to be scared. No one wants to disturb himself or herself. We are all sleeping giants with great possibilities if we can accept the truth no matter how discomforting. Vulnerability is how you get to be stronger. We are just holding ourselves back ultimately.
These cartoon characters are now a product and are commercialize. People forget all of the stories and morals are learned from the cartoons, which are now thrown by the way side. I have an affinity for some cartoons, which have and haven’t been commercialized. My work has as much negative imagery as it does positive imagery. I love working with dualities, juxtaposition, minimal, and simple elements. I use an ambiguous cool color palette because I don’t want the color to take away from the message. I want people to question this.
To see more of Daniel Work please visit:http://www.danielstgeorge.com/
To find out more about his up and coming publication, please visit
http://www.allisnotyetlost.com
