Dameon
Priestly Artists Statement
www.dameon.co.uk
The preoccupation and inspiration for Dameon Priestly's
paintings is the story behind the picture - what is not
seen.Is there such a thing as an average man or woman?
Is there ever such a thing as an average day? What goes
on in the minds of the sexes and what happens behind closed
doors? Dameon's paintings engage in a series of narratives
which subtly weave their way through the paintings: a
visual depiction of what can lie beneath the surface;
at times in a seemingly innocent image. Dameon's view
of the world may be termed dark by some; his series of
paintings reveal the 'strangeness' concealed behind the
seemingly banal and random monotony of life’s' experiences
and human behaviour.The stories they tell are those which
the viewer does not necessarily want to know; and yet
forces them to fill in that which is not always apparent,
resulting in the uncomfortable recognition of a disturbing
undertone.Dameon depicts people seeking an alternative
life – trying to achieve the ‘American dream’
- and sees straight to the fragile hearts of his characters
without ever becoming sentimental.With rare exceptions,
his stories end with disturbing circumstances; as he captures
his subject's quiet desperation, with full emotional tension,
anxiety and melancholy. Portrayed against everyday backdrops
where the drama unfolds.His work lends itself to those
basics of old-fashioned storytelling: plot, character,
and action. The culminating results within the paintings
are sometimes both simultaneously beautiful and haunting;
or arresting in their strength. Dameon sources literature;
both fact and fiction, movies, religion, social and political
history as his inspirational pool; he lives and works
in London and has sold paintings nationally and internationally.
About
Lady Luck collection of work
In
the America of the 1930s & 40s new highways were being
built, scything their way through boundaries, borders
and state lines. They heralded a new era, a time of change.
America was on the move, its people were going places
– albeit within their own country.
Scattered
alongside these, appeared all manner of motels, eateries,
convenience stores and truck stops, to service its various
travelers.
There
were families going ‘out of state’ on their
vacation; sales-men crossing country lines chasing that
big deal which would secure them for life and there were
truck-drivers keeping every thing supplied to every corner
of the nation. There, of course, has always been too –
the loner, the drifter, the hitchhiker and the runaway,
but something has changed.
Once
seen as beacons of light in the darkness, as the oasis
in the wilderness – these places are now more like
light houses, warning the travelers of the possible perils
in the vicinity. But have these places changed, or is
it rather that society has?
Although
these places were originally meant as ‘stop offs’
on your way somewhere, they became something else - they
became ‘the destination’.
They
attracted those people who regarded these places as the
end of the line. When a lone man queuing in a fast-food
chain in some small town cracks and opens fire on the
innocents around him, before killing himself, it is seen
as a ‘cull’ rather than a killing. And when
someone goes missing, and is last reported being seen
at a gas station or truck-stop diner, no one is the least
surprised.
One
Story
You remember the stained smile of the lady who served
you, and called you ‘Miss’. You recall the
sweet sticky smell of freshly brewed coffee, the tingling
of your fingertips and the warmth in your palms as you
cradled your cup. You remember the orangey red glow of
the buzzing neon sign above you, lighting up the diner
window, which cried on the inside with streams of condensation.
Outside the dark, early winter, mid-western sky tumbled
in, finishing the day prematurely.
You
remember thinking this warmth, these assurances and certainties,
and the feelings they brought – these were the reasons
you came to this place. That maybe the trip wouldn't’t
be so bad and your journey has taken a good turn.
The
sound beside you of someone shifting from foot to foot
made you look up. You see the truck-driver touching the
rim of his cap with his index finger and how he removed
his glove before scratching and rubbing his chin, saying
how he was going ‘clear across 2 states’ if
you were headed that way’ and that he’d already
paid for your coffee.
You
remember walking outside across the freezing parking lot
and hearing the truck driver saying, over the noise of
the frost crunching underfoot, that – you were doing
him a favour by coming along – that his boss was
clamping down on drug use among the drivers to stay awake,
and that the conversation would do him good. You remember
as he opened the door to the cab of his rig, that as you
climbed in, he said from behind you that you reminded
him of someone he knew.
And
that’s it, there is no more. The final play has
begun and you’re already in the endgame.
Sub-note:
Why gum:
'Lady Luck' gum is of course a fictions brand, but it
works as both an item and symbol to enforce the narrative
of the series of works.
As
a symbol, gum is among a select handful of products which
scream ‘America’. In a world where a county’s
level of development is directly proportional to its consumerism
– America stands alone.
'Lady
Luck' gum tells you to be optimistic and hopeful –
chew it all day long and everything will work out just
fine – the ultimate marketing ploy: offer the people
a little hope with the product, charge a small amount
for this feeling of well being and watch the profits roll
in. If gum only gives your mouth something to do whilst
your brain is not engaged – then the picture is
complete.
As
an item within the context of my narrative, it acts as
a lynch pin holding the story together and being the thing
which connects the people and places. It is sold in the
convenience stores, in the truck-stop vending machines
and given complimentary in the motel foyers. It is in
the pockets of the waitresses and the backpacks of the
runaways and on the dashboards of the truck drivers -
each one looking for a little bit of luck to help them
on their journey; that is the ‘American Dream’.
About
Malice in Wonderland collection of work
The
earthly gateway to the promised land is not always what
it appears to be; set in the 'Bible-belt' Mid West of
America in the 1970s, the stories behind the pictures
show the hollowness in their scriptures.
“(Warren)
Jeff's, 50, considered a prophet by his estimated 10,000
followers (The Church of the Latter Day Saints, FLDS),
was jailed on warrants accusing him of sexual assault
and other misconduct on minors in Arizona, and as an accomplice
to rape in Utah.” 30 Aug 2006.
‘What
goes on in that place is nothing less than sexual slavery’
says Flora Jessop, the daughter of a polygamist (a member
of FLDS) who as a teenager rejected her upbringing. ‘At
16, after I rebelled, I was given an alternative: a forced
marriage or the mental asylum’, she claims ‘The
local police and judges were in cahoots with the church’.
Dameon’s
series of work 'Malice in Wonderland' engages with the
aspect of religious groups in the American Mid West Bible-belt
that have elements of sexual subversion at the core of
the leader’s authoritative ruling. Many sexual abuse
cases over the world have been taken up against those
who work under the ‘cover’ of the ‘church’,
making out the abuse is in the direct service of God.
John
Taylor, one of the Mormon Church’s earliest leaders
- still the FLDS focal personage – married at least
33 women. ‘The youngest of these wives was just
14 when Joseph explained to her that God had commanded
that she marry him or face eternal damnation’.
Dameon’s
work engages with the viewer in depicting young women
as the enticement for men to be ‘drawn’ to
God and works to highlight the hypocrisy of many religions
in the way they treat young women/girls as sexual trade;
or sanction sexual and human abuse by thwarting the law
to bring these people to justice. Examples of this are
readily seen across the world from various sects and denominations.
The
text in Dameon’s work is from quotes found on Churches
and road signs across America. The churches seen depicted
are also taken from across America showing the cross influence
of colonial foundations of state religions.
The
series 'Malice in Wonderland' hopes to bring to the forefront
that it is not ultimately about religion, love or worship
in the service of God, it is about the power they can
excerpt over individuals and masses; and at times the
sexual abuse they can get away with.
Source
of quotes www.channel4.com/news/specialreports
& www.apologeticsindex.org
About
Missing: series 2 collection of work
Dameon’s
work concentrates upon looking into the ‘American
Dream’ and its unquestioning belief and hope; soullessly
based upon the unfulfilled promise of adverts and illusions.
When you grow up in America you are imbued from the earliest
age with the understanding that America is the richest
and most powerful nation on earth because God likes ‘them’
the best; that counties just don’t come any better.
They are told that with a little good old fashioned hard
work and a bit of luck things can be just as presented
on TV.
However,
this illusion is not as convincing to a growing percentage
of people who know their escape from bitter reality seems
impossible. Still, there are those who try for a better
way of life, believing that they can escape the mind-numbing
dreary uniformity of mid America; blighted by greed, pollution,
mobile homes, poverty and television, that ultimately
they will escape to a place where there must be more to
life than the vast ground locked states which offer nothing
of the ‘Promised Land’ that their President
and cooperate advertising guarantees to deliver. Unfortunately
for some, this journey of discovery and fulfillment does
not always have a happy, or even an acceptable end.
'Missing:
series 2' follows on with this notion of wanderlust and
escape, of a road trip to paradise, of how those seeking
a better life who are easily lead by the promises and
stories of another; despite their desire not to be taken
in and absorbed by them. Existing too in this world is
the psychotic; also taken in by the myth that the importance
of possessions and the acquisition of things are necessary.
However, in this case it is the ultimate possession -
that of another human being which becomes the desirable
object. ‘Since this girl represents not a person,
but an image, or something desirable, the last thing we
would expect him to want, would be to personalise this
person.’ S. Michaud (The Only Living Witness, 1983).
One
Story: A handsome man walked up to Carol Da Ronch by the
Cyclone ride in Coney Island. It was damp November evening
in 1974 and the attractive 17 year old was gazing wide
eyed at the twinkling and blurring lights of the funfair
when the man approached and introduced himself.
About
The Good Book collection of work
The
Good Book series of drawings is another look at the uneasy
alliance of sex and religion (see Malice in Wonderland).
On this occasion drawing from the statement ‘you
can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertising’
We
see billboards that festoon the American landscape which
sell religion like so much fast food, at so many convenience
stores – with reduction of spirituality (regardless
of its denominational origins) to yet another product
of consumerism – combined with the fact that churches
coffers all around the world are being emptied to pay
for an avalanche of claims against them for abuse. The
result we are left with in ‘The Good Book’
makes uneasy viewing. We see the door opened to a room
which we do not want to look in – but cannot resist
the temptation.
