Artist’s Inspiration: Korey Steckle

We invited local artists to respond to the theme of Rites of Passage as part of our Wall of Art series, a quarterly juried art show produced in partnership with Guelph Arts Council. The submissions received were incredibly varied, as each artist brought a truly unique perspective to the theme. For this blog series, we asked the artists to share their inspiration and the story that their piece tells.

Korey Steckle- Sedition

I strongly believe that one cannot simply will the muse: the artist’s power lies in his/her ability to receive, as well as invent, and it is the artist’s duty to do everything possible to increase those powers of reception. To overcome the trace of everyday reality, our conditioned and acquired consensus of consciousness. My goal is to deliver people from their limited ways in which they see and feel.  I wish to provoke a reaction from within to make others think.  Arousing others from the lethargy of our set ways and routine lives, all the while remaining true to my artistic nature.  The artists, musicians, directors and writers   whose work has shaped and informed me over the years include Jack Kerouac, Ben Watt, Ewan Pearson, DJ Koze, Chris Coco, Rob Da Bank, DJ Pathaan, Bob Dylan, William S. Burroughs, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Mapplethorpe, Terrence Malick, Jackson Pollock, Stanley Kubrick, Mike Mills, Spike Jones, Douglas Coupland, Duncan Jones, Julien Schnabel, Edouard Manet, Francisco Goya, and, most importantly, Jean Michel Basquiat.

Sedition is one of the first pieces of collage I have created where I interspersed fragments of my own personal photographs with found source materials including magazines, catalogues, textbooks and such.  I have been influenced by the work and collage of the writer and artist William S. Burroughs.  The bloody hand featured is my own and the photograph was taken the night following an unwarranted assault by a policeman; the photograph was originally taken to document said assault. After years of the photograph left in the bottom of a drawer I decided to use various personal photographs in my collage work. It has been therapeutic and healing to use my own personal pictures in my artwork and collage.  To transform what was once silent pain and bear witness in such a profound way I feel is the best way to communicate. With the current climate of police brutality in the media I felt it was time to show this work to the public.  I believe all artwork carries a political message, one way or another.

Sedition is on display at the Guelph Civic Museum until January 8, 2017.