The Different Faces of Art with Ed Massey
American painter and sculptor
Writer: Suchira Biswas & Jigyasa Dixit
Inspiration
From an early age, Ed Massey was raised to learn about and respect people from different walks of life regardless of their culture, socio-economic status, or financial background. “We were taught to get to know others and bring people into our lives”, he relates. Having been inspired as a young student to pursue a degree in sociology, he quickly realized that visual impact in communication would be much more compelling to people generally, including those having an eye for design and aesthetics; so he selected art as his medium. He informed us that initially his works were social commentaries and critical analyses of everyday issues such as ethnic, racial, and gender inequalities and tensions, violence, and crime, and business and political ethics. “I am a student of my environment. When I am exposed to an issue and feel compelled by it, I will try to tackle the issue,” he told us.
Due to high housing costs and insufficient supply in Los Angeles, even veterans are often forced into the streets. Ed went on to create a statue, “In the Image,” a 7-feet-tall saint-like figure of a homeless man showing the dichotomy of a colossal and robust physical stature of a man relegated to living on the streets. He does his work in solitude, and Ed Massey’s works are often controversial.
Interest in Public art & Democratization
Rather than visiting rarefied art galleries and exhibitions, Ed grew up viewing murals and street art including the legendary Mexican muralists in Mexico city. “If you bring art out to the public and make it accessible 24 hours of the day, in a major thoroughfare in any major city of the world, you can confront the public and convey a message to hundreds of thousands or millions of people. It will make them think and discuss. That is the impact”, he stated. Public art can be essential and powerful, especially when dealing with social issues. With so many choices and options, we can choose to ignore pressing issues when we spend time online deciding what to read, see or hear. However, being constantly exposed to a powerful piece of art in public and literally in your face forces us to confront life issues; “The visual impact to me is greater than any other”, he commented. Street art and public art can provide the general public with a visual representation of complex issues and trigger critical thinking that may lead to action.
Ed Massey is so passionate about the public nature of his work that he often includes the public in the making of his artwork. He often tries to include as many persons as possible in his large-scale public projects and has even developed and patented special brushes and painting methods for persons with physical or health challenges to make sure all can participate.
When he was a student, Ed decided to not engage much with art galleries as he believes that his art should belong to the public. He believes that if anyone wants to display art, they should have a way to do so — social media and other digital platforms have helped facilitate the idea. There are numerous gatekeepers in his domain: government officials, politicians, and financiers. Some of his projects take years to get approved because of this.
It is essential to remember that art does not always have to be permanent; Ed stressed the importance for art to exist rather than become a permanent fixture. His public works are often time-limited which adds to their allure as they are time-sensitive and viewers know that. At times, he donates sections of his public works to charities or social service programs after exhibitions so they can be easily revived in new locations and settings.
Portraits of Hope & Inclusivity
Soon after writing his first children’s book, ‘Milton,’ Ed visited pediatric hospitals to give book readings to children dealing with serious illnesses. He observed that the common thread was that ‘children were children.’ and when they could, they would draw universal symbols regardless of background. He thought about what could be possible to engage children who were set apart from the general public, and several months later, through a lengthy government approval process, he was able to garner support from elected officials along with the public, to permit children in hospitals and otherwise, to beautify an old oil tower in Beverly Hills, this would later come to be known as the ‘Tower of Hope’.
Along with his brother, Bernie, Ed established a multi-faceted community-based program, known as Portraits of Hope, to beautify structures and public settings and that merges public art, creative therapy, and social issues education for children and adults; the program exists to give hope. Hope to the injured, the tired, the sick, the isolated, and everybody in between. The beauty of this program lies in its ability to unite people; seniors work alongside youngsters, with multiple cultures joining in to beautify the streets. Ed joked that he often sees senior volunteers who are decades older than him who are more active than even teenagers in their group. He paints a picture of a united cause through Portraits of Hope, where he has worked with communities who do not own brushes or paints or where they used mops and any materials available.
Although anyone can join Portraits of Hope, there is a method behind the magic. Portraits of Hope attracts experts from many fields, including engineers, who offer their expertise in how to approach some of the large-scale projects which can involve more than 10,000 people and massive painting surfaces. Portraits of Hope projects have culminated throughout the United States, Japan, and Mexico. Portraits of Hope is known for its vibrant color palette.
“There must be a wall somewhere, a structure or something that needs some love and where the community can come together. It does not matter if they have ever painted before, does not matter if they can see or not, or can move or not, everyone is included if they have the interest to do so.”
Technology & Traditional art
“The accessibility of the visual is, of course, amazing, and you can get it out there instantaneously through technology, but I think it is equally gratifying to take a spray can of art.”
“I am a very old school and back to the basics kind of person,” he said. Ed believes that traditional public art can bring people together into a social setting through its physical nature. Although his work is traditional with mixing paints and plaster, he also uses technology to maximize the benefits of large-scale projects. Previously, he would work in his studio with associates and discuss ideas, and now does the same through digital mediums like video conferencing where he can also direct design work. “I much prefer being in close proximity with an individual, helping to guide them if needed and facilitate the physical movement of painting. Interpersonal relationships are essential to me. But I use technology, and it is also crucial”, he said. He reported to us that his large public projects are in frenetic and kinetic environments coming together where they have open studios, 24-hour painting sessions, musicians playing cultural music, cashing in on the diversity available in his home of Los Angeles.
NFTs are also very intriguing to him because he has been digitizing his works and components of his works from the very beginning of his career, long before NFTs. NFTs also help democratize the visual arts arena and can bring the broader public directly in contact with artwork and an artist. That is a critical breakthrough in an often insular art world. Accessibility is revolutionary.
“The beautiful thing about exposing art through technology, social media, or NFTs is that it can remove traditional gatekeepers, anything goes with technology, and it is accessible.”
Ed believes that this could have high benefits for visual artists and buyers, and it can also allow the general public to own pieces of art. NFTs enable artists to have their copyright which is essential to an artist in his opinion. He thinks this will allow for artists to take complete control over their work, and along with that, it allows for a global audience to view art. He also told us that a negative point of NFTs was that they are currently for the most tech-savvy and that limits full accessibility and democratization until more people can become conversant with the technology and have access to it. He candidly told us that he was not sure at this time how these new developments would reflect on the end-user who buys a piece of art and has on-screen ownership of it.
Community, Art & the World
“My mission is for people on a global level to be able to beautify areas of need, be it an alleyway or a forgotten structure, but can be brought to life by the people of the community,” he said. The power of a community is enormous, and when combined with art, it can not only beautify old forgotten structures and therapize, but it can also get people to discuss pressing matters of society. It can encourage people throughout the world to come together, benefitting the world, not just a select few. He concluded by saying, “If we can combine all the good energy of people and work collectively as a team, something magnificent can happen.”
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