Last summer when I was visiting my family in Ohio my husband and I stopped in the Akron Art Museum and spent some time looking at a large exhibition called Myopia. I had not heard of it but it took over the bulk of the museum so I was curious. I have a habit of going through museum exhibitions from the end to the beginning. Looking at the work without context to make my own conclusions based on the images alone. I found life size sculptures, paintings, rugs, digitally manipulated photographs and one entire room full of 30,000 postcards all organized in 300 binders. I was simply blown away by this body of work and wanted to know more.
At the end, which was actually the beginning, I read the statement about the artist's difficult childhood because of undiagnosed Myopia. His vision did not extend beyond 6 inches. There was a bit about his hellish early school years which I could very much relate to because of my own learning difficulties. After reading more, I realized that he grew up in a town about 30 minutes from where I was raised in Ohio. Then I looked at the name; Mark Mothersbaugh, co-founder of Devo, the iconic punk band of the 80s. Standing there, I decided I wanted to interview him. I reached out to him this spring and he graciously agreed to an interview. We talked at length on the phone and he helped me make the connection between the art and the music, which not many know. He told me the most wonderful stories about the early days and the thread of his art always present, even to this day. He may just be a modern renaissance man. Here is the article and make sure you look at the images through the story and at the end.
Mark Mothersbaugh: The Artist Within
