I’ve been contemplating my artist statement again recently and realized it was in dire need of an update. So here I am with a much more relevant statement addressing the work I’m doing right now. Thanks for your interest and please see the contact information at the end of the statement if you need to get in touch regarding commissions, purchasing work, or other details.

JOE WALLACE ARTIST STATEMENT

The urban landscape is filled with patterns, grids, shapes, and repetition. Whether you’re in New York City, Tokyo, Chicago, or anywhere else with that type urban sprawl, the sheer density of buildings, cars, people, and streets creates an overwhelming amount of visual information to process. That information is a metaphor for life in the city, and it’s an experience I try to recreate.

The feelings of movement, isolation, loneliness, and voyeurism one gets in the city is a very important part of my work. Glimpses of people, shapes, patterns, moods, experiences sail past us on the street, on the subway, in the taxicab on the way to the airport, everywhere you need to be in the city, leaving it, or returning.

The city is awash in the smells of food, beer, exhaust fumes. The sounds of the streets are forever ebbing and flowing. Our time on the pavement on the way to and from our struggles and triumphs is punctuated by boozy hours, random encounters in the night, the tyranny of the alarm clock, the kiss goodbye, or the lack of one. The skipped breakfast, the hurried lunch, the wondering what happens tonight.

My work is about urban alienation, the pressure of the city, the contradictory feelings of anticipation and dread, the joys, the need, the unpleasantness and the excitement of the urban sprawl. Where do we go in this vast metropolis to get away from the crush of humanity, or even ourselves? How do we find connections to others in the emptiness of city living? Who shares their joy and how? Where does it all lead? The neon and glass storefronts reflect your face as you walk by, but is that who you are?

Some of what I do is about answering these questions–whether that is in the work itself, or in the process of showing it to others and finding a middle ground with fellow travelers in the concrete jungle. The city is indifferent to our wants, our lusts and our joys, but it is also a place where we can meet together to share a moment in the shadow of the tinted glass towers.

–Joe Wallace 2016

Contact me at jwallace242@gmail.com for collaboration, commissions, or other proposals.

I am a fulltime artist, writer, audio professional, and social media user. I recently began working more full time on projects related to gallery work, indie publishing, and sound design. Now it seems all of these things are starting to merge together. This space will reflect all that…stay tuned. Especially on the indie publishing front.

Specifically with regard to graphic novels, sequential storytelling, zines, self publishing and all related things. I started a very long journey in these areas back in 1987 with a crude, hand-printed xeroxed zine (more of an elaborate flyer, really) called Putrid Doom. It was terrible, and was read by maybe five people. But it got me started on a journey in indie publishing that took me places I never dreamed.

I stopped publishing in the late 90s, briefly returned in the 2000s, and thought I had “grown out of all that”. But as it happens, I didn’t grow out of self publishing, just out of my formerly more ranty, self-indulgent, and if I’m totally honest really egotistical writing style. I also found my own voice rather than aping the non-fiction style of Stephen King, Hunter S. Thompson with shades of Kurt Vonnegut thrown in for good measure.

Today I write, create art, and compose music that deal with dark themes of urban lonliness, alienation, industrial decay, sexual situations and more.

I can be reached at:

joe@joewallaceaudio.com

If you’re in need of my writing expertise (my past clients include Lionel, Motorola, Wal-Mart.com, and Shopping.Aol.com) contact me via e-mail: joe@joewallaceaudio.com

My audio resume and experience are found at: http://www.joewallaceaudio.com

You can get a basic idea of what I’m about with regard to audio at http://now-sound.com.

You can also hear samples of my music and sound effects work at https://soundcloud.com/paisley-babylon

In brief:

I record, edit, produce and write. My production experience includes both video and audio–I am very experienced with Avid Media Composer, Final Cut X, Pro Tools, Cubase, Audacity, and many other audio/video platforms.

My personal equipment locker includes the Sound Devices 633 mixer/recorder, Sennheiser 416 shotgun mics and a variety of other pro gear. I prefer Lectrosonics 400 series wireless mics.

My work includes half-hour reality TV documentary projects for Air Force Television News, 30 second spot production for radio and televison, and indie film projects. My location audio work includes a variety of sound effects capture projects and Chicago-based independent films.

My production clients include the Texas Society of Sculptors, CheapToday.com, Gearwire.com, Shedd Aquarium, and WildClaw Theatre Company.

Experience and Awards

My half-hour television documentary, “The Making Of An Air Force Recruiter” won the International Association of Audio Visual Communicators Gold CINDY award in the Film/Video category. Earlier in my career, my coverage of the aftermath of the Oklahoma City Bombing was a first-place finisher in the Radio Feature category of the 1996 International Gold Screen Competition. I’ve earned numerous other awards individually and as part of the Air Force Television News Team of producers and editors.

Contact me: joe@joewallaceaudio.com