"skinny yellow nudist" Drawing

Artist Statement
By Troy Headrick ()

My artist’s statement is likely not going to look like other such statements because I’m not your typical artist.

I grew up poor and lived for a time as a squatter in an abandoned building. I was always a smart kid which allowed me to get a BA, MA, and almost all of a PhD, studying liberal arts courses, at really good universities. I then used that education to travel the world and live outside America, in some pretty exotic locations, for about twenty years. During my years abroad, I experienced (and survived) earthquakes, revolutions, and military coups. All that shaped the person and artist I currently am.

My father was an artist, so I guess I got my desire and skill while watching him as a young child. That’s about the extent of my training. In the world of art jargon, I’d be called “self-taught.”

I had a few shows as a child and sold lots of work. As an older person, I have showed and sold art in America and other countries. As an adult, I advertised myself as an “outsider artist” and had lots of success.

Today, I’m more interested in challenging the idea that art is for the elites. I often use found cardboard and other “trash” as a way of being both a responsible global citizen and to challenge the notion about what art is and can be.

Because I am also an academician, I am attracted to the notions of “process” and “product.” I like to destroy things and reconstitute them, perhaps in some new and surprising way. I don’t want to make “pretty” pieces. I want to make art that surprises, challenges, and even startles.