One-Line Bio
14 illustrates the sordid world of gossip and slander while trying to keep a straight face.
Biography
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Q. How many artists are in the Gallery of the Absurd?
A. One. All paintings are done by me except for when I post guest artists. I drink lots of coffee and am basically a studio hermit when I'm not out running wild on the town.
Q. Do you hate the celebrities you paint?
A. Quite the contrary - I LOVE the celebrities I paint. They provide me with hours and hours of laughter - such the clowns they are!
Q. Do the celebrities get angry when they see their portraits?
A. I am not painting their portraits...I paint only the gossip, buzz, chatter and brand image the particular celebrity projects or attracts. I seek to capture a peculiar segment of modern pop-culture mythology as it unfolds before our eyes. For this reason, I would hope the celebrity would not be angered. Tom Cruise is probably angry...and come to think of it, Star Jones probably isn't too happy either.
Q. Are you a girl?
A. I do seem to be a girl. Hold on, let me check.....yep, I'm a girl.
Q. Why can't you spell?
A. Because I move too quickly and lack patience.
Q. Are you on MySpace?
A. Yes, but I rarely check it. Find me here http://www.myspace.com/botanical_complexity
Q. What's the story with that other blog using the name Gallery of the Absurd and what's up with them calling you a "zhlub"?
A. About a decade ago, a guy was using the name Gallery of The Absurd for his website pointing out absurdities in advertising. He won all sorts of awards for it and then let the domain name expire. Around the same time, I had been keeping a journal of my own absurdities and decided to start posting them on a blog. My journal was called Gallery of the Absurd and when I did a domain search for the term, I was thrilled it was available. I was unaware of his expired version of Gallery of the Absurd until he wrote one day and asked about the name. He seemed nice, but I could tell he was seething inside. I took him for one of those passive aggressive types who wants to hold on to his past glory and darn it, no "zhlub" is going to stop him. So instead of just accepting the fact he lost his domain name because he allowed it to expire, he decided to start up his version of Gallery of the Absurd even though I've been using the name for past four years. He goes to great lengths to let everyone know that his site is "the original" and that his readers should "accept no imitations".
I started Gallery of the Absurd for FUN and giggles and am not in it to seek glory and accolades, so make sure you look him up and tell him how impressed you are with all his awards! He's an English professor too and has much better grammar than I.
BIO
fourteen (14) has been an artist and a keen observer of the human species for centuries. Her irreverent underground art in the form of hand numbered and signed posters has been seen and collected throughout the West Coast for years and yet she has remained gleefully outside the radar of commercial success. She lives in San Francisco, CA.
Lately, she's been both fascinated and horrified by the alarming rise in celebrity culture. She noticed that everytime she flipped through a celebrity tabloid at the supermarket, she would erupt into tears of laughter and everyone standing in line to pay for their groceries would glare at her.
She always wanted to be a comic book artist, and here, in the pages of a glossy tabloid full of stalking paparazzi photos, catty commentary and the exposed bloated excess of celebrity existence, she had finally found the material to amuse and inspire her.
The art shown here is created mostly by hand using ink, acrylic, pastels and oils on paper or canvas. Digital enhancement using Photoshop and Illustrator is also used. Original art is available and for purchase. Email fourteencelebs (at) yahoo.com. She promises if you purchase her originals, you'll get a good karmic return on your investment.
Interests
secrets, boston terriers, temptation, extraterrestrials, quentin tarantino, george lucas, the moldau, folktales, olives, robert crumb, flemish painters, burnt sienna, eccentric elderly people, karl lagerfeld's outfits, mongolia, antonio gaudi, sharp wits, spike lee, chinese cinema, new zealand sauvignon blanc, argentine malbecs, ignoring spell check and spelling things how i want to spell 'em, est autem fides credere quod nondum vides; cuius fidei merces est videre quod credis, sharing tea with crazed shamen, luna moths, gondwana land, dung beetles, mahabharata, leigh bowery, cala lillies, puppet mastery, dr. suess, dodecahedrons, talented and original artists, untalented and unoriginal celebrities, number 14, vesica pisces, piercing illusions, glitter, the cremaster cycle, camels, succulents, avoiding malls, falling in love with phantoms, stratified igneous rock, jim blanchard, mad magazine, trashy gossip mags: star magazine, us weekly, igloos, cytosine, loki, tempting fate, sharing a bottle of fine cabernet with my garrulous homunculus, alchemy cookbooks, mudskippers, sumo wrestlers, dali, spain, jupiter, the residents, doing everything in my power to malign the evil wal*mart, gary oldman, racer x, oozing magma, shape shifters, embedding myself into the digits of pi, 11:11, ralph steadman, raymond pettibon, odd nerdrum, enrolling myself in mystery schools, lightning bugs, ego destruction, and the eradication of mediocrity., japan, new zealand, anthropology, johnny depp, dodge chargers, arugula, howling at the moon, david bowie, concocting schemes, the fool tarot card, luciano pavarotti, hedonistic forest pixies, bunky, dark chocolate dusted with sea salt, jim woodring, noh masks, pine cones, being stubborn, baby chameleons, lichens, whirling dervishes, edward abbey, sir martin rees, the varsity, pondering the nature of consciousness, surly cab drivers, african art, discordianism, exobiology, illuminated manuscripts, haggis, underground art, being sassy, codex seriphinianus, the ring of fire, brugmansia aurea, amsterdam, zebras, extra-absorbent paper towels, diatoms, nommo, quantum tea parties, parallel universes, sand storms, lurking in shadows, intouch, somnambulists, hollywood exploits, john titor, meme defiance, self transforming machine elves, aspargus, electrified hedonism, fibonacci showing up uninvited, talking frogs who wear spats, cheese sold in large blocks, rolling my eyes, albrecht durer, francis bacon, hieronymous bosch, paul laffoley, my darling dali, dragons, elixirs, thwarting genius while embracing madness, alice in wonderland, lucky charms, letting go, walking a path between two worlds, turning off the tv, taiko drumming, ignoring the media, walking down rodeo drive in dark glasses and gawking at the liposuctioned botoxed freaks buying ugly expensive crap which eventually ends up in a land, laying on the desert floor during the new moon and gazing at the stars for hours and hours and hours until being lulled to sleep by the warm sage scen
