Johnny Naked - Artist
NakedSlave4Art
The Naked Slave 4 Art project is an ongoing multi-media art project involving a media campaign of print advertising, Internet promotion, film/video infomercials, installations -- example: a larger-than-life road-side "window ad" on one of the most trafficked streets in Los Angeles, on-site promotional performances, and various other media. You can find the most recent print ads for the project in the nationally distributed art magazine "Artillery" and the Los Angeles art magazine "Fabrik."
The overall project can only be completed with the investment of a "buyer" and the subsequent year of servitude as outlined in the ads. Photo prints of various ads for the NakedSlave4Art project and video infomercials for the project have already been displayed at the 12th Annual LA Art Show, the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park, Gallery 825 in Los Angeles, the Gallery at Barone Studio in Pennsylvania and numerous other galleries.
Although the Naked Slave 4 Art project has many influences, the concept as a whole has deep-seated origins in the culture and attitudes of Los Angeles and the entertainment industry centered within it. It is an exploration of how this culture has shaped the media and perceptions of the world as well as our own identities within a society defined by fame, wealth, exploitation, and fabricated "reality." Like this culture, it is in a constant state of self-reinvention, while at the same time remaining constant in its single-mindedness and self-centered ideology. And it keeps going, and going, and going, and...
Naked commenting on his project:
"I try to maintain a sense of humor about the project, although there are some serious and complex issues hidden beneath the outrageousness. I want people to have fun with the whole thing, and to let themselves in on the fun by playing along, too. It is in large part about exploiting media and investigating the way people view such things as personal worth, art and its worth, social conventions, taboos, commerce, the current celebrity culture and how it's reflected in such things as reality TV and generalized media sensationalism and a whole bunch of other stuff. And, as I stated earlier, one of the basic things I like about the concept is that it's an interactive project that will never be fully completed unless an individual or organization with the financial means and the creative vision to do so decides to step up and take the leap with me and make something that could be truly unconventional and amazing, depending on what ideas and inspirations they bring to the table themselves. One of my artistic slogans is "Become Art to Get Art" and it applies as much to this project as it did to The Ever-Changing Naked Picture Project (www.nakedpictureproject.com). And of course another fun slogan specific to the NakedSlave4Art project, whether it be a magazine ad in Artillery magazine or a 14 foot by 17 foot window ad facing La Cienega as this specific installation (MY AD HERE: NAKEDSLAVE4ART.COM) entails, is the simple concept of: "Why Buy Art... When You Can Buy the Artist?" Which is worth more? The objects created or the creator themselves?"