VOICE 1156 Q&A WITH Spenser Little
Interview conducted by Noah Spahn
Voice 1156: Spenser, what was your impression of the two opening nights
for your showing at Voice1156?
SL: Etiquette and tact are lost art forms, like bare horseback riding and fine penmanship. The night
before the opening I was installing the show at the gallery and the Voice staff was having a team
meeting. I got to listen to them hash out their problems in a group forum. They discussed the need
for sponsors, security at openings and interpersonal respect issues between the staff. Until I
overheard the emotional outbursts and passionate rebuttals of the staff I felt that this was not
the gallery for me. It is nice to see creative moxie outweigh artistic ego, even if for just a
brief glimpse, the Voice gallery is a good thing to have in this town.
Voice1156: I know that you have very ambitious goals regarding art
and your future: what are your current pursuits?
SL: I’m currently talking to latex manufactures in Mexico about building G.W.Bush blow up dolls
that you could have your way with. "Sick of being screwed by the American government? Well, now
it’s your turn" will be the catch phrase on the box. It is my life goal to create products that
are designs to invoke thought and positive change.
If you haven’t noticed lately, the world has been in a downward spiral that seems almost certain
to crash even more horribly than planes into tall buildings, yet American citizens sit placidly
and consume their bottle fed lives. I find the awareness of the average American citizen painfully
appalling. There have been radical anti-corporate government groups going strong since the long
hairs had their moment in the sixties: Protesting, handing out pamphlets, causing public ruckus and
all that is fine and dandy but I believe those tactics of protest do absolutely nothing for long term
change. You can gather on street corners and scream till the cows come home about the atrocities our
government is committing for the sake of oil and Danny tight jeans and Cindy new shoes will laugh at
you as they farfunuggin their way to Ikea, people don’t care about the horrible truths; they just
want to keep consuming, living their comfortable lives at the expense of others misery; that is the
American way; the American dream was founded on streets of gold with gutters overflowing rivers of
poor people’s pain. That’s what the "Five Dollar Bum Smile" series was all about, drawing an emotional
connection to the piece before the observer even knew what it was, then realizing this was a real
portrait of someone living on the streets in their own town; staring into the eyes of the failures
free enterprise has created. True evolution is building a global society where everyone gets to eat.
Even the Incas knew that. It may seem like a joke to manufacture blow up dolls of the president with
positive political change in mind but I imagine consumers being attracted to the novelty of it,
thinking it’s funny; it is funny to think of hypothetically ass raping that evil man. Adulterating
the already out of control extreme enterprise system that already manipulates our minds to possibly
sway people blindly into awareness might work, like Sesame Street for adults, kindly giving you
subliminal pointers. The street art movement is mostly about bringing attention to what is not
working well for people. Now I feel the next step is to give people something tangible to think
about, something other than just planting esoteric theory on the back of street signs, a product
you can take home and show your friends as a ‘look what I got, isn’t this funny’ but has real
underlying meaning. People like nick-knacks. If it doesn’t work I’ll always have my voodoo dolls
as a means of controling people of low moral character.
Voice1156: In the past you have been known to leave wire sculptures behind
for others to find; what are your reasons for doing that?
SL: If I have to tell anyone why there is a need for positive graffiti then we’re totally screwed.
Voice1156: During our recent conversation I got the impression that your work
is an overflow of your ideological fervor, your passion seems unwavering- what are your sentiments
about the ‘art world’, and why do you make art?
SL: It begins by flirting with the thought, flashing coy smiles back and forth with the idea,
twisting things around in my fingers till they bind. Once they're secure I move further down the
line and begin to twist again, pressure and patience are my only allies.
Nothing holds form forever, not even bronze, and your caring will only last as long as your final
breath, give birth with your hands and dance in your waiting, selfish mine-fields only work when you
know who you dislike in the future and their location, it's too much to worry about, so for-go traps
and just breathe for now as your caring is counting every inhale from here on out, but exhales too
as well on its way to meeting your doubt half way somewhere in the dark middle, there, is the source
of our birth, where our hands blindly fumble to pull out sense of the creation machine, a brief
flash of meaning in a seemingly otherwise meaningless world.
Art is made with the intention to enlighten but often times it just provokes one’s own ego to emerge.
Voice1156: Where will we be seeing you in the near future?
(Any future art shows/events?)
SL: I will be showing a few bits and pieces of work at the up-coming ‘Threads’ show at the old
wonder bread factory downtown, I think it’s September tenth; other than that I have no certain plans
for shows, but of course you can always check me out dirtyclean.net.