My Summer Lair Chapter #171: Is Just Me Or Does The Astronaut Remind You Of Gary Larson’s Far Side?
This conversation with astronaut painter Scott Listfield opens with Scott describing his painting called Glitch:
Scott Listfield “Glitch”
That’s right: on this episode, I’m joined by a painter: a visual artist. So tuck in that shirt; and spit out that gum it’s company manners time. Scott’s work is remarkable: his 500 plus paintings often fuse pop culture elements with corporate debris and overlooking all of that mainstream mess is a solitary astronaut. We’ll reveal more about the astronaut as we talk.
On September 13 he posted this on IG:
“I began working on this series of paintings while the world was in lockdown. Cities were empty, buildings boarded up, coyotes inhabited downtown. I began to hear from people that the real world was looking more and more like my art. This gave me pause. It’s always good to feel like you’re in the zeitgeist. It’s another thing entirely to get the feeling that you’ve predicted a bleak present. I was struggling with what to do with this knowledge, and what I wanted to say about the present we find ourselves in.”
This is the thinking that prompted Quarantine his second solo exhibition at Spoke Art. (Click on the link to see the show. Fantastic opportunity to enjoy art without pants. Classy yet comfortable.)
Even just from Glitch, the viewer can highlight the competing aspects pushing for space on the canvas because it’s all wonderfully absurd and stunningly surreal. It’s understandable why Killer Mike recently gave Scott IG love.
I dig the guy’s work as you can tell and so this was a treat to finally talk to him about sci-fi movies and books, painting, and that lonely judgmental astronaut who echoes Marvel’s The Watcher. We even get into The Far Side Gary Larson’s fantastic comic which is always fun that guy doesn’t get enough recognition.
Scott Listfield “To A Better World”
