My name is Robert Steven Connett. I go by 'RS Connett' ~ My current occupation is as a full time artist/painter. You can see some of the art I make here on 'myspace' , and more of it at these links; http://www.vomitus.com & http://vmaximus.deviantart.com/gallery/ If you like what you see I hope you will join my mailing list below. You will see all my new releases and offerings .. --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> --> I was born in San Francisco on August 19, 1951. I lived in San Francisco until 1999. I then moved to Los Angeles, CA, where I live currently. Being born in 1951 makes me a Geezer in most of your young eyes. Unfortunately, If you live long enough, becoming old is unavoidable. At least, for now ... When I was young I thought that I would die young. I hoped that I would die young. Now, I want to live forever because I feel the reality of death. I hope that technology will be able to augment my existence so that I might never die. Better a living brain in a jar than death. I would prefer my dreams to nothingness. I would like to live indefinitely, choosing the time and place of my death. I would like to perfect who I am until I grew weary of my life, and choose to end it. Though I believe this will all soon become possible, I think I may have been born too soon to benefit from the science that will come to make it happen. That science that may make immortals of us all is coming. It may actually be an evolutionary step for mankind. ... but I digress.
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I like to believe that I have not lost the idealism and fascination with life which I have seen die in the hearts and minds of so many of my contemporaries. (contemporaries = The people you grew up with) I also believe that throughout the years my soul has been saved by my art. Through my art I have been able to maintain an important balance.The creation of art has helped me gain a certain amount of pride and sense of specialness. It is important to feel special. In some way we all are. When you forget that, or take for granted that you are not, you begin to lose the game of life.
There are many artists 'better' and 'worse' than me. Comparisons of this sort do not matter. It should not matter to anyone. Comparing yourself to others is a deadly trap. You must have faith in the knowledge of our uniqueness. I have seen envy ruin many a good soul. The world is a place of relativities. We all see things so differently, that I believe we might go mad if we were able to see through the eyes of another, if even for a few moments. I think when one goes mad, truly mad, it only takes a moment.
For over 20 years I worked by day, and created my art by night. I disliked my day job. I resented this job. I was always angry about that. I was envious of what I thought I saw in others. Those who had the wisdom or luck to be doing things they enjoyed. I was forced to work for money as most of us are. The days of hoping life would change for me, (Rather than I changing it) turned into years and then decades. Life is a very short dream. The awakening is in your death bed.
I lived in the city of San Francisco all my life.In 1998 I moved from my home in San Francisco to Los Angeles. I was married that year. I was 47 years old.
My wife is my great support, in all ways. In LA I worked as a general manager in a film distribution company, another job I loathed, ( including 3 hours a day of unpaid commuting time) My wife suggested that I quit this job because I was miserable. She said, "You can work only on your art and I will support us while you build a career."
I jumped at that opportunity! The first year of that was wonderful. it is a VERY different thing to work a few days or nights a week doing artwork, than to do it every day, for many hours. When one works many hours every day, one develops abilities and builds knowledge quickly, (through trial & error in my case because I have no art education) In fact, I find that as I work on my art every day, my artistic expertise and knowledge grows exponentially. Once I discovered the joy of working on my art every day, I could no sooner think of stopping the process than to stop eating or breathing.
Then suddenly everything changed. My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. This happened about one year into her support plan of me. She was forced to go through the hideous treatments; chemotherapy, radiation, etc. and of course, our 'deal' was cancelled by fate. Suddenly, my comfortable 'slow & steady' career move had to become our main source of income. I had to take care of my wife and bring home enough money for us to keep our home. All this is terrifying for many reasons. It was like jumping from heaven into hell within 24 hours. The randomness of life can pull the rug out from under us, and I'm afraid it does this to most of us, often repeatedly.
I had to find a way make enough money for us to live with my artwork alone. I'd compromised all my life to make money. The only thing I held sacred was my artwork. I look back now and see much of my earlier art as being immature, pretentious and derivative. However, that was me!
My art is the sanctuary where I protect my heart and my individuality. I believe that in creating my art I have saved my eyes from total blindness. It is why I see things with eyes that can still recognize the magic in the world.
I am now still in the middle of this 'mid-life career change' fight . I do whatever I have to do to keep us home and eating. I sell prints and small originals on Ebay. I take on private commissions. I sell originals and mounted 'Giclee' prints privately to a growing list of private collectors. I even painted a portrait, (http://www.vomitus.com/museum/new_work/Portrait_Magee.html, or see it here on my 'myspace' page under 'music') That's all much more than 'okay' because I enjoy and feel pride as a craftsman in the creation of these works.
After 25 years of creating art for my own catharsis first, and for public scrutiny second, I'm not sure I could become 'commercialized' now ever if I wanted to. And I don't want to.
I appreciate the support of anyone who cares to write me, make a comment, or to critique. I learn the most from negative criticisms concerning my technique than anything else. As I said, I did not attend any art school, and so the world is my teacher. I study the art of the contemporary artists, many of whom have 'myspace' pages. I watch their work and dissect it. I see their originals in the galleries of LA, my one remaining social practice. I do my best to deconstruct their works and learn from their ways. Of course, I am very influenced by these artists. I'm sure you can find similarities of their styles in my work. This is a homage to their talent, craft and imaginations. I feed from their minds."
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