BENJ'S SHOE 2019
ABSURDITY - THE PURSUIT - PART I
Benj's Shoe is an acrylic painted combination of Benj's actual shoe on timber plates and part of one of my poems outcast. The shoe is mounted on painted plywood which is suspended on copper threads inside of recycled parquetry frames.
In 2019, a young Australian couple, Benj & Ru, came to Stuttgart to open a cafe for a local Stuttgarter who had lived in their city, Perth, in Australia with his ex-wife a decade ago. Benj is best mates with his son in Australia.
When Benj & Ru first got to Stuttgart, they were full of the usual enthusiasm young Aussies have when setting up life in Germany. However, they quickly realised that their boss was only using them as a gimmick and within a couple of months, they were itching to head back home. I wanted to keep something of them as an absurd souvenir of their innocent attempt at making it here.
Benj was telling me one day about his well-worn cheap pair of Slazengers which had tramped with him throughout the world. He'd even gotten them 'shined' in Bangladesh where the chap simply painted them white without listening to Benj's pleas for him to stop. I asked him if I could have them when they finally gave up the ghost. He found that kinda funny and gave me them in a plastic bag.
Outcast is born from many experiences I've had either being cast out or casting out others. It is intentionally unclear where it's happening, who is doing what and how engaged the group is until my autobiographical experience is shared. One thing is clear: Whether valid or not, the casting out moment is always full of power, self-validation, and finally entertainment for all involved.
The combination, medium and bright acrylic colours result in a simple, thoughtless, idiotic absurdity.
OUTCAST
what's the matter with you tonight?
we were all feeling very lively
till you went and spoiled things
now look at the group!
look at all of them!
do you see what I see?
no one wants you here
get the fuck out!
ok, go ahead, bang the door shut!
well, it's good how you stood up to him!
at long last!
we've been too tolerant!
we've been far too tolerant!
and now you've finally done it!
ok ok, it's just as I said
now we can have something
we can all be quite proud of
quite proud of, yeah
everyone back to having fun now.
but wait!
we're so proud of you!
we've shown our standards!
yeah, we've shown our backbone!
although it's taken us too long I'll say
yeah
one day ten years ago
I threw a whisky bottle at a dog
and missed and the bottle smashed
shards splintered across the burnt grass
everybody screamed at me
THATS FUCKN MATTS DOG!
WHAT THE FUCK YA DOIN?
YA FUCKN ARSEHOLE!
I ran to the front yard
lay down on the nature strip
and cried into my drunken hands
while farting warm green beer
tonight is not the night for stories
not with this new hero status
not with all these Catholics
not with my history
what's wrong with you?!
we've been congratulating you!
yeah we finally did it
such a big big story