Toilet man

I don’t really care for the overly illustrative quality in some of these works. You know, like da Vinci or whatever—people look at it and think, “Oh, he’s just a guy making dumb little pictures of things.” But I’ll tell you, there’s something important about having a guy who’s just looking. Someone willing to sit there and stare at the toilet, for instance. Who’s to say something couldn’t crawl out of it? What hangs in the balance? Maybe more than we’d like to admit.

A guy who watches the toilet—it’s sad, sure, but isn’t it kind of necessary? I mean, what if something does crawl out of there? Who’s paying attention? Most people are too busy looking at the big, shiny stuff—skyscrapers, stock tickers, whatever. But there’s something valuable there, cold asscheeks pressed against the tile floor. Because everything we think is solid, clean, under control… it all ends up in the toilet eventually. That’s where the real story is. You sit there long enough, you start to notice things. The little shifts, the cracks in the system, the way everything loops back on itself.

But maybe it’s not about finding something - maybe nothing crawls out of the toilet, maybe it never will. But the act of looking, of being there, ready for the moment when something breaks through, that’s where it all hangs. That’s the guy’s job. And if no one’s doing that, what are we even left with? So that’s what I think. I think I’m a toilet watcher, and that’s good. Maybe it’s not glamorous, but it’s honest. Maybe landscapes have been painted ten thousand million times—fine, what’s left for me to bring to the table? But maybe it’s not about me changing anything. Maybe the landscape has already changed. We know it has. The world’s not the same as it was a hundred years ago, or even ten. So there’s that.

And here’s another thing—maybe this is the real key, the one people don’t want to hear. You want energy, momentum, vitality? It’s all on you. Self-empowerment is the answer. The more you sit around griping about your situation, dreaming about some gallery that’s going to swoop down and hand you your career on a silver platter, the more you sink into depression. Meanwhile, you’ve got the most powerful tools in human history sitting right at your fingertips—social media, digital platforms, global reach—and what do you do with them? You sit there complaining about how Night Gallery doesn’t want to work with you. I don’t feel bad for you. The system isn’t broken; you’re broken. What I’m saying is, you’re being handed an opportunity, and instead of grabbing it, you’re crawling back to this fantasy: “I want to sell a painting for $50,000. I want to buy these fancy pants.” And then you look around, and yeah, you see these other artists with their expensive clothes, and sure, they made money—but they made it painting KAWS knock-offs and Daniel Arsham bullshit.

So what am I saying? I’m saying maybe stop waiting for the world to validate you. Maybe stop worrying about what other artists are doing or how much money they’re making. Maybe just sit with your work, like a guy watching the toilet. Pay attention to what’s real, to what’s in front of you. Maybe something crawls out of it. Maybe it doesn’t. But either way, you’re there. You’re looking. And that’s the difference. That’s what matters.