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CONTACT :
DerLustmorder@aol.com INTERESTS & PURSUITS : art . the occult . alchemy . magick . thelema . lies . deceit . blasphemy . wanton lust . sex murder . macrobiotics . violent exercise . running . romance . libertinage . unrequited love . perpetual transformation . absinthe . erudition HEROES : Marilyn Manson. Rudy Coby . Otto Dix . The Marquis de Sade . Maldoror . Friedrich Nietzsche . Aleister Crowley . Sid Vicious . Nancy Spungen . Mom . Dad . Typhoid Mary . VI Lenin . Nero . Caligula . Howard Beale . Captain Ahab . Don Quixote . The Whore of Babylon . PARTNERS & BEST FRIENDS : Brad Jaeger . Alex Deleyn . Gilles Maurice . Manzin . Vincent Castiglia . Morgan Falcone . Peter R. Koenig . Josiah Spence . Scott Myers . Cyril Helnwein . Bob Mussell . Tamian Revoluchin . Terry Matlin . Heather Marie . Jennifer Patricia . Thania Elv . Drago Dochev . FAVOURITE ARTISTS : Hans Bellmer . Otto Dix . Man Ray . Gottfried Helnwein . Marilyn Manson . George Grosz . Richard Dadd . Salvador Dalí . Hieronymous Bosch . Pieter Brueghel . Max Ernst . Gilles Maurice . Alejandro Jodorowsky . Kenneth Anger . Igmar Bergman . David Lynch . Jan Van Eyck . MUSIC : Marilyn Manson . Nine Inch Nails . COIL . PIG . Pop Will Eat Itself . KMFDM . The Sex Pistols . David Bowie . The Little Kings . Iggy Pop . Prick . Johnny Thunders . Black Light Burns . The Dandy Warhols . Hole . Jefferson Airplane . Social Distortion . Kill Hannah . Mission UK . A Perfect Circle . The Beatles . Total Chaos . Psychedelic Furs . and hundreds more... WRITERS : Aleister Crowley . The Marquis de Sade . Friedrich Nietzsche . Edgar Allan Poe . Israel Regardie . Rod Serling . Christopher Hyatt . Philip K Dick . Comte de Lautréamont . Charles Baudelaire . HP Blavatsky . |
WWW.MYSPACE.COM/SYPHILITIC
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WWW.NACHTKABARETT.COM
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WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/NICK.KUSHNER
NICK.KUSHNER.DEVIANTART.COM
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TWITTER.COM/NICKKUSHNER
"Most myths use imagery that is completely classical, that have come from a very long time ago. But the classical can be now. It's not that then was great and brilliant and the Gods existed then but not now. I do believe that they exist now in a different form and it's up to people today to realize that they can live on those terms and incorporate it into their everyday lives. That modern day things can have a mythical or mystic overtones."John Balance of COIL. 1987
ncubated in the filth and pandemonium of New York City, Nick Kushner's artwork speaks not only of pain and disillusionment through the themes of love, death, and abuse - but of the ultimate catharsis that can be attained through the artistic distillation of the emotions evoked by these. Kushner says "...creativity acts as the catalyst for transformation by allowing one’s works to 'purify' the metaphorical alchemist throughout the journey, so to speak, of the creation process." While influenced by such disparate misanthropes and anti-heroes as Otto Dix, George Grosz, Hans Bellmer, Friedrich Nietzche, The Marquis De Sade, Charles Baudelaire, Aleister Crowley, Marilyn Manson, and Sid Vicious, Nick's inimitable use of art as alchemy stands totally apart.
The end results are highly-detailed, darkly sensual pieces that evoke a visceral response in those who view them, reinforcing the artist's belief that "The act of creating is only the first half, the truly magical aspect (in the occult sense of the word), is how each work of art or creation affects the world and in turn how that affectation comes full circle and back to the creator." Each project furthers his exploration of inverse Classical themes executed with expressionist and chaotic overtones.
While bringing to life several all-blood pieces executed by using the medium as watercolour, NK is also responsible for The Nachtkabarett [ http://www.nachtkabarett.com ]. Featured on MTV Germany, it is an expansive and meticulously researched website dedicated to the occult and the esoteric, soon to be published in book form by a major indepenent publisher. Nick has also designed the Official website for the "Coolest Magician on Earth", Rudy Coby, and designed, maintains, and administers the Official message forums of renowned musician and artist Marilyn Manson.
By Brittany Glatz . January 2010.
Fetish model. Art, music, fashion & occult journalist. Contributing writer to ReGen Magazine
Photo by Marilyn Manson. August 2009.
For those who aren't familiar with your work, please explain the concept behind your art.
At base the concept has always been the very literal insertion of myself into my art. Years later throughout study in the occult and alchemy, for example, was I able to find an intrinsic parallel between this direct immersion into one's creations and Will. The idea that the journey of creation acts as the catalyst for transformation by allowing one's works to "purify" the metaphorical alchemist throughout the journey, so to speak, of the creation process. Similar in the sense that the lifetime of alchemical pursuit will not equal the monetary or intrinsic value of turning base metals into a minute quantity of pure gold. This aspect is entirely a surface level misnomer which laymen and charlatans of the time misconstrued the process to be. It's the process that acts as a microcosm for one's own inner growth and erudition. The creation process affects the artist as much as the artist affects and moulds the creation itself.
Since art is such a personal thing, do you ever find it hard to "explain" your art?
Art is an explanation in itself. It is demoralizing, yes, to be grossly misinterpreted but that reflect much more upon he who misunderstands and it's that person who is at a los if he should lack the dept of appreciation for works that are profound. This is general truism which is completely self evident and has nothing to do with any of my works necessarily for that matter. But by human nature, most everyone who chooses to drastically strike out and tears down the walls of accepted convention are decried by their own generation and are understood infinitely more by the next.
Where do you tend to draw your inspiration from?
Despite it being "unpleasant" in the objective sense of the word, the greatest motivation, aside from love and greed, has been catharsis. It's something which has been the driving force behind virtually all of the works of art, music and literature which I consider to be sacred. Christianity is obsessed with death, pain and abstinence but utterly fails in elaborating upon any of what can be attained through the experience of any of the above aside from the intangible union with a god who is silent and tortures those who believe in him. Be it from destitution, isolation or emotional abuse and neglect from someone you're in love with, that infliction will force a schism and ultimatum ; either let it destroy you or else (literally) create your own world when the rug from the other has been pulled out from under you and find that the floor no longer exists beneath it. It's something which can only ever be rationalized in the aftermath and a place of remove after overcoming it but it forces a change, growth and transformation with the abscess of negative energy which has been thrust upon you. It's a matter of the choice to live and fight which determines whether you allow it to overwhelm you or whether you direct it and use it as a force to create with.
Painting ; documenting the Creation process
When and why did you decide to incorporate blood into your pieces?
I had always been different, that is even when I looked "normal" I never exactly fit in. Generally I seemed to be well liked amongst peers but when you grow up with your Mom singing you John Lennon's Working Class Hero to bed at night, when Pink Floyd's The Wall was your favourite album at the age of 10, The Beatles then the Sex Pistols at 11/12, when you grow up learning about art history and Nietzsche when all the othr kids are still watching Disney cartoons it's difficult to fully relate on any deeper levels. Don't get me wrong, I watched cartoons as well ; Aeon Flux an Liquid Television were my favourites growing up.
By the time I discovered punk rock in junior high it was years before there was even a Hot Topic in the town I grew up in. Binghamton used to be a prominent city and was on the top 15 of the Soviet bombing list during the Cold War. It was Rod Serling's hometown. My mom had the same English teacher who inspired him. When I came of age my best friend and I were the first two punk rock kids ever in our high school. Officially pariahs and outcasts by choice & disposition it's needless to say that when I began wearing lipstick two years later the perennial death threats hadn't abated. It was exactly this time in September 1998 which I drew a self portrait, crucified, bleeding from the hands and done so in my own blood. It was the first time I'd used the medium and it was a signification that should I be martyred for manifesting my individual Will then so be it. It set the tone for my later works to come albeit at the time it barely scratched the surface.
Essentially my usage of blood (which is entirely my own, it would defeat the purpose if it wasn't) continued and evolved over the past decade and dramatically deepened in significance to me despite knowing purely on a subconscious level at the first cut.
Ritz Carlton. Boston, MA. 8.4.2009.
Who are your influences?
Demigods and anti-heroes throughout history. Balance, whether in the occult of more worldly sense is an integral aspect of creation and growth. Art is the highest and most sublime pursuit one and undertake and devote oneself to. It's a pursuit which is more all encompassingly spiritual than grandest of cathedrals. The word 'inspire', for example, as in the holy boos of the Bible are said to be 'inspired', is in reference to the direct channeling of "god", the creative force that pervades throughout the universe, or whatever you want to call it. That is, the artist being a medium through which this entity or concept reflects like a prism onto the world. But all art which is solely concerned with divine, incorporeal and intangible light is entirely monotonous & uninspiring from a creative or individual standpoint. So the depiction of base obsessions is an aspect of this balance. Aleister Crowley practised that the immersion within such wanton desires was an integral step to achieving this balance as well as overcoming their vices. As such, the depiction of sex, manias, destitution and that which has fallen from grace is not a conflict of interests in this regard. It's a dichotomy as opposed to an oxymoron.
The artists which have inspired me the most, not necessarily stylistically or in execution but rather their attitude and rebellion were those that have been condemned as "degenerate art" such as Otto Dix, George Grosz and Hans Bellmer. All of my heroes are dead. A good number of them were insane and syphilitic. Demagogues who embodied rebellion such as Nietzsche, the Marquis de Sade, Sid Vicious, Baudelaire, Aleister Crowley and, my only living hero, Marilyn Manson.
There's something to be taken however from the classical ideals of the meticulous artistry from the Renaissance, something which is disappointingly lacking in Art today in a manner which is inspiring. In this respect as concept which I frequently explore is the inversion of Classical themes but executed with expressionist and chaotic overtones. An artist though who I do believe embodies this is friend of mine, Vincent Castiglia, who also uses blood as his medium of choice with a classicism that evokes the fine artistry of the era in harrowing reinterpretations
Additionally in terms of balance, the splashing of blood onto a piece which has been minutely detailed has a dichotomous quality and allows the subconscious into to take shape ; reflecting an element of raw passion. But 'passion' as in 'the passion' of Christ being flayed alive.
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What are you working on now?
Whenever I've completed a new piece it's one small victory of bringing yet one of the other two dozens visions, that are in my head and mentally conceptualized in full at any given time, into the world. I have note/sketchbooks full of hundreds of concepts and titles/themes to execute. At current and most immediately however I'm bringing to life several all-blood pieces, in a manner of using the medium as one would paint in watercolour ; something I've only touched upon tangentially throughout the past several years.
Art has been my lifelong disposition but it's now been 10 years since I made the conscious decision and intent to become an 'an artist' proper and 11 years to the month since I first cut with the deliberate intent to touch blood upon paper. It's a signification of a new beginning of sorts, but one which is much more extreme and unabating rather than resting upon any accomplishments.
Integral in terms of multiple overlapping subject matter and inspiration I'm also currently assembling my intellectual endeavors which comprise Nachtkabarett.com to be published in book form and have the privilege of aiding and enacting the Will of my hero.
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What's your idea of purgatory?
Hell to me (being it metaphorical) is the absence of any progress, being it stagnation and a complete loss of control over your own fate. In the movie Constantine, for example, where one moment in Hell is equivalent to a thousand years on the normal plane of existence. Purgatory is a Catholic invention used as an intermediary between the two, so not only can the church make life in this world a living absinent Hell but their theology keeps heaven still intagible in the next for an indeterminent amount of time to repent even further, albeit temporary.
If taken metaphorically however, purgatory isn't an outright damnation meaning it's esentially an undesired downtime embodying the lack of your destiny unfolding before you. If one's ultimate objective isn't forsaken though the internment, a temporary purgatorial state can just as easily be experienced as a period of incubation needed for the furtherance of what one is fighting for. Everyone wants to be famous movie stars and rock gods but few are willing to actually work for it and endure until the end. To get to wheteever it is you need to go requires the honing of skills and accreting experiences necessary to get there, which may not be understood until they're put to use when they're intended purpose arises.
It's the easiest thing in the world to do to throw it all away instead of enduring until the end but it's a function of love or the freedom and mobility of the human condition, or whatever you want to embody it as, to decide that something is worth the sacrifice to obtain.
Are there any modern artists who you believe also embody the Renaissance spirit you speak of?
The more "classical" artists who I admire the most would be Jan Van Eyck, Heironymous Bosch and Pieter Brueghel. All for their originality as well as they're absurdly intricate and meticulous style of painting. In the Renaissance the problem that existed was that within the trade and social framework of the time the artist was completely at the mercy of his current patrons in terms of what he was able to depict. It wasn't until the free and more bohemian lifestyle of the Nineteenth Century that allowed for creativity and the complete ability for the artist to create for art's sake that gave birth to impressionism and surrealism ultimately.
Modern day artists which to me embody the meticulous ornate intricacy and grand conceptual works of the Renaissance would probably be artists such as Gottfried Helnwein, Joel-Peter Witkin and even Dali's religious depictions when he made for the forray into the realm of classicism.
'Shattered.' March 2004.
Marcel Duchamp said, "All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone... the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act." What do you hope that those who view your work add to it, and take away from it?
This is very true and integral as it becomes fruitless & a selfish endeavor to put something into the world without allowing anyone else to see it. It means the world to me when someone is able to resonate with a particular piece of mine or to a particular theme or feeling depicted therein, as they're kindred spirits whom I would never have met had they not seen. When creating though, each piece is "charged" with the intent and motivating inspiration behind each work and when that's unleashed unto the world it's tantamount to giving birth as it allows the Will of the creator to fully manifest and grow as an entity. The act of creating is only the first half, the truly magical aspect (in the occult sense of the word) is how each work of art or creation affects the world and in turn how that affection comes full circle and back to the creator. It applies to any act essentially. Everyone in my life today whom I love I've met by way of my artwork or Nachtkabarett.com, including my best friends and my blood brother & mentor Rudy Coby whom it would have been impossible to come into each other's sphere's of existence otherwise. Art and creation is an entirely tangible entity and becomes that which indivisibly represents he who creates it and likewise becomes that which has the power to interconnect to other's who do the same.
Interview conducted by Brittany Glatz. October 2009
For forthcoming print periodical.
