ILLXTRESSION: THE ART OF MICHAEL TWOHIG

Finding art that truly asserts itself is becoming more and more rare. While corporate media immediately commercializes any emerging trend showing the faintest promise of marketability, even less popular artists seem to gentrify themselves in an effort to gain the most exposure possible. Via internet progeny like Myspace and YouTube, this middle ground of talent- less manufactured than the mainstream but the cream of the underground's crop- promote themselves to the most enormous and widely varied audience history has seen, and, in the process, soften any edges in order to appeal to everyone.

With so many volatile issues present today beneath the surface of everyday life- war, terrorism, prisoner detainment, immigration, corruption, poverty (Katrina)- we are starved for art that aggressively and intelligently defends or confronts any of these issues and the institutions that perpetuate them. If you've ever been fortunate enough to see the work of Michael Twohig, than you've witnessed a quality of artwork that fills this void. Through his raw style and sharp viewpoints, in addition to his industrious production and distribution of his 'zine "Coldhandsdeadheart," Mike has firmly established himself as an artist that has the resolve to make a statement. A 28-year-old artist and new father working in Rochester, NY, Mike recently sat down with Fish & Crown for an interview:

SEE LOTS OF HIS WORK HERE

Congrats on your baby boy! What's his name?
Colin Michael

Now that you're a papa, any predictions on how that might inspire your work?
Creative time management.

Ha ha! Coldhandsdeadheart was a zine you self-published and illustrated from 2001 to 2005.  What inspired you to take on such a project?
In the beginning, it was the result of accumulating a bunch of drawings that I felt the need to share.  As my skills got better, it became a project of refining my drawing style, and a means of self promotion.  I'm socially introverted and my drawings have given me a means to interact with different people.  Raymond Pettibon (known for hardcore punk band Black Flag's artwork) was a big influence.


If I could categorize your work, you create fine-artwork oriented large paintings as well as smaller illustrations, including political commentary and flyers. When you have an idea for a work, how do you decide if it becomes a large painting or a smaller piece?
My paintings are almost exclusively improvised on the spot.  They develop in real time.  With abstracts, I feel there's unlimited potential.  I'll never have to strain for an idea of what to paint.  No conceptual artist blocks to overcome. I don't do them to make some profound statement.  It's self expression and a stress reliever.  The idea of running out of what to paint would just make me more stressed out.

For smaller pieces (drawings/illustrations), if I'm not illustrating for a specific project (editorial, etc.), it's pretty much the same deal, but maybe working with more identifiable elements.  For the last two years I've been focusing on absurdist and surreal pieces for punk/hardcore/indie rock flyers.  Those are easy, because I can zone out and do absolutely anything.

I'd like to get back to doing more political/social situational pieces; single panel cartoons with captions that that I played around with in the coldhandsdeadheart series.  With those, I try to provoke the viewer's imagination with some kind of statement/observation.  Whenever possible it's always fun to inlay some confusion where numerous messages can be discovered depending on how it's perceived.

What are the sources for your politically/socially themed work?