I experienced my first recognition that the world does not present itself uniformly, or universally, at the age of six. Shortly after moving back to the U.S. from Europe, I recall having a sandwich made for me while visiting at the home of a friend. It was there and then that I first recall seeing a loaf of enriched white Wonder bread. The tan, perfectly formed loaf, with its consistently sized and shaped slices--let alone its pillowy texture--struck me as especially exotic and engineered. Could this plastic packaged product really share a common provenance with the crusty, paper-wrapped bread that had nurtured me through my youth?
This experience was the first of many episodes of confusing cultural observations. At the time, I was old enough to recognize the differences, yet too young to appreciate their significance. As I grew into an adult, this initially detached curiosity was sublimated into a creative practice based on my subjective responses to the quotidian elements and episodes that I generally regarded to comprise a seemingly objective reality. As a result, I tend to investigate a variety of topics and interests via a project-based approach while attempting to stride the lines between engagement, parody and critique.
When I consider the multitude of images, messages and media with which we are constantly and consistently bombarded, the borders between all the classic binaries (good/evil, high/low culture, right/wrong, etc.) become jumbled to the point of near meaninglessness. As a result, I feel it is my duty to employ any and all necessary tools and tactics to build, and occupy, a pleasant little perch atop the fence between earnestness and irony in order to manifest manna from the muddle.
~ Brian Balderston