hmm...
Ive been thinking about blogging about this guy for some time now...... He came up in conversation over the weekend.. and I think its time..
My mate saw him speak at some design conference a few years back. Apparenty he didnt talk through the whole thing- he just sat there and flicked through some slides of his work and then some dude in a superhero costume ran around for a bit.
which, admittedly, is fairly cool and different than being talked at for an hour in some cases- comes off as a little arrogant...
anyway... Anthony Lister is a Painter.. he mainly paints kinda
Lowbrow kinda stuff- mainly of characters and stuff... here take a peek.
his work is absoltely amazing, its so loose and free and beautiful.. in an ugly lowbrow kinda way. his use of space and white really makes his characters pop... but aside from all this wanker arty talk. Its really his background story that im super interested in..
Anthony was born in Mexico and grew up in Brisbane apparently. he went to art school up there. and aparently found himself a cheeky little coke attiction.
This guy.. seriously... he is what artists are MEANT to be!!
The Jackson Pollock. the Brett Whitley. who doesnt give a fuck and trashes shit and causes a fucking massive rukkus constantly, but everyone still worships him and puts up with it cos they love his work. and they secretly love him too.
even those uptight fucking suits who deal art and talk shit about wine.
they love this guy!
cos hes fucking nuts!
here is a brief list of the charges he had had against him in the space of 2001-2008:
"....several sexual harassment charges, grievous bodily harm, possession of class A drugs, drinking in public, urinating in public, willful damage, break and enter, assaulting a police officer and several parking tickets"
sounds like a good night out no?
he also has been kicked out of some night club in NY in 2007 cos he 'exposed himself to a bunch of bouncers at the place and groped the owners wife.
Apparently his dad was assasinated by a head of an infamous drug cartel around this time too..
pretty crazy though.
.... but look at that work.
this is one guy I would love to meet before my time is up... or his?