Images are published with the express consent of the artist, Kevin Tukey. Kevin Tukey retains all rights as artist, illustrator and creator of the original artwork above (November, 2013). | It is said that to be an artist deep down there must be a tortured soul full of conflict and past trauma bursting out at the tip of the pen. Am I that soul? Do I have that trauma? I grew up in Los Angeles and if you consider having two older brothers and barely squeaking by through the public school system then yes I have been in the fox hole. Being the youngest of 3 boys in the family I had to find a way to get the attention and approval of my parents. My eldest brother was the smart one, slept through school and tested off the charts. My other brother was hard working, charismatic and can to this day talk your ear off. My younger sister was the baby and only girl in the family. 'Nough said. Then there's me. I wasn't a writer and illustrating my school assignments seemed like a much better idea then struggling through an essay on the Oregon trail. I'd rather draw the people braving the cold of winter having to resort to cannibalism. Needless to say my teachers were not impressed with my crude rendition of the westward bound settlers hardships. But this is what I saw, this is what stuck out in my mind, not the oxen and bonnets but the humanity and question of morality these brave men and women endured. So despite the naysayers of my education I kept drawing this. The uncomfortable always seemed to make people look not only at what's put in front of them but there own moral compass and limitations. Is there a hidden pleasure in the shock value I can evoke? Of course. But there is that other side the side society is hesitant to go toward. What is right, what is wrong, what crosses that fine line of being taboo. I want to force an introspective awareness with my art. How far can the visual limits be pushed. Drawing is my journal, and I can only hope that someone can vicariously look at life through my vision. - Kevin Tukey |
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