The ArtCasts
from volume 02 issue 05 // Crystal Farina
Words: Crystal Farina
Appearing:
September 29, 2007
Carmines and Club Zion, Ybor City
The World Famous Kicks, Ybor City
New York, New York, Ybor City
"I am the original ArtCast," says Amanda Stiles, the 25-year-old full-time and self-proclaimed starving artist. "The ArtCasts are a very large revolving group of artists who initially did not have a way of exhibiting our work. We were not able to exhibit because of censorship guidelines or because we were snubbed by the cool crowd," says Stiles. The St. Petersburg-based artists have been part of the traveling group since 2000, but they only began to collectively identify themselves as "The ArtCasts" last year. On September 29th, "Irreconcilable Differences" will be the ArtCasts' debut show in Ybor City. The event is being co-curated by Rob Haskew of Eleven 17 and sponsored by Skatepark of Tampa's Mike Goodwine. Art and music will be featured in Kicks, Carmine's Restaurant, NY NY Pizza, and Club Zion. "The reason we chose these unusual places is because they aren’t necessarily party venues. We want to make sure that the art is going to be taken care of. I also hope it will help out these establishments. They are re-opening Club Zion for us, as it is not usually open on weekends. They want to start a revival there, and we’d like to bring up art in that area."
On September 29th, passers-by who aren't yet privy to The ArtCasts may view them as "just another group of artists"; however, Stiles means to divulge some of the past issues they've faced. From beginning to present, several members of The ArtCasts have had their work stolen, censored, damaged, and even incinerated. Before I was granted the opportunity to speak to Stiles, she sent a letter focusing on the group's disallowance in the St. Pete and Tampa communities. This brings about the question, "Why are The ArtCasts such a target for debauchery?"
Stiles is forthcoming yet paradoxically vague about the reasons and details involved in The ArtCasts recurring rejection from home and beyond. When we discuss her first show at The Emerald Bar in St. Petersburg (August 2006), Stiles opens up: "The theme for that show was 'Consumption.' Every piece had something to do with people being consumed by something-- by drugs, alcohol, worldly desires, other people, and even happiness. They weren’t all negative. There was an equal balance. I had eight pieces of art stolen. Most of them started being returned anonymously. They were badly damaged, and I couldn't repair two of them. I don't know why my artwork was stolen."
This year, The ArtCasts held four art shows at Latitude 23.5, a 1st Ave. cafe in St. Pete. Although Stiles states that the owner viewed The ArtCasts portfolio before they displayed work, after the fourth show, the group's work was immediately removed. Stiles claims, "Some of the artwork was shoved in closets and damaged, and one of the pieces was placed outside, where anyone could have stolen it." An unknown curator for the show, who was not previously booked, came in and removed all of the artwork overnight.
In 2005, before The ArtCasts collectively named themselves, other members endured heavier destruction of their artwork. Stiles says that Markus Aurailieus, an active member, displayed work in an unnamed venue where the pieces were stolen by a group of Christians. After burning his artwork in the midst of a bonfire, the group boasted to several people, including Aurailieus. When asked about the artwork, Stiles only mentions that it was of a religious nature with pictures of Christ nude, on the cross, and in the foreground of undescribed text. "If you really analyzed them, it wasn’t going against Christianity," says Stiles. No further contact information was given for Markus to elaborate on the occurrence.
The history of The ArtCasts has been more painfully repressed in some areas, as I learned when speaking with another member, Chuck Majewski. A few years ago, Majewski was ordered to sign a non-disclosure agreement concerning the stolen design he created for a company. " I was paid for the design, but my name was never credited to it, as was part of the agreement. I would have had to hire an expensive forensic accountant to earn my full dues, but I couldn't afford it. They’ve got the big guns. I’m just one person. It was enough driving down the street seeing my design on every 30th or 40th car." Although this was an unfortunate occurrence, Majewski wants to emphasize that he's worked with other companies who have given him the credit due: "I've worked well with Captain Morgan, and I designed the capeman icon for Subway. There are many positive things that have happened with my drawings."
Despite their past, The ArtCasts are beginning to find the right channels for acceptance, and Stiles' largest censored piece, a semi-pornographic painting of Anna Nicole Smith, will act as a launching pad. After the Ybor show, the painting will be flown over to NYC's Brecht Forum, a gallery that features artwork focused on social justice. Stiles explains that the piece focuses on demonizing the media: "They played a major role in what happened to her." After being urged by the organization to submit her piece, she was contacted to participate in their upcoming censorship exhibit. Before The ArtCasts developed, Stiles lived in NYC and was unable to find one gallery that would accept her artwork. Now she can reveal her artistic statement to the city.
Although the group has struggled through much, Stiles does not carry a dejected expression. Instead, she acts hopeful for the future of The ArtCasts while they work to defend themselves against a deeply-rooted stigma: "They know we're the outcasts of the art world."
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Very Cool!
That is just Amazing first and foremost, i LOve it, I wish i coulda had the chance to talk to you guys however, but still turnt out great. Here's the real story on the section that talks about the Christians burning my art.
I made a couple drawings for my girlfriend when she moved into her Uncle and Aunts house to put on the walls to have something to look at since, she really didnt have much at the time. The Drawings depicted a woman being crucified on the cross, and an alien injecting a rediculously huge syringe labeled "plant food" into a human brain. The couple looked at these drawings and decided that with one I was trying to say jesus was a woman, and that the other meant that aliens implanted us humans here on earth and not god. Two things that i was realy not consciously trying to say. They took them into the backyard, and torched them. In response I remade the drawings into paintings and on a much larger scale. The alien painintg was seven feet tall and about four wide, The crucifiction was also around this size and now the woman was nude, and there were scattered statements written in text amongst the foreground. These statements were there to document the experience and take a few jabs at those who burnt my artwork, the statements ranged from "Enemy of you not your church," to "you cannot destroy something you did not create," and something that said "you'd have to cut off my hands to silence me." It was then when i had my first showing outside of student shows, at the Injectdead Ink Suicide parlour a tatoo shop, and art gallery that was on fith avenue and ninth street. A few weeks after i put up some of my most soulfull work
I stopped by the shop to realize they and the shop onwers had hit the road. During this period is when i realized that this was a truely powerfull thing, that my art could envoke such a strong emotional reaction in people that it could make them take such drastic actions as to burn or steal my art. It was then that i decided to get serious with it and become a serious artist.
thanks for taking the time to read this and giving us, The Artcasts the chance to grace your pages :)- peace
posted Mar 5th, 07:32