Hess paints a color wash of red and orange for the sky. He adds texture with a sponge dipped in a muddy shade. Carefully, he colors the figure. Music has always been a spiritual experience for him. The juxtaposition of the deviant and inherently good stayed with him. Music helps him turn off his racing mind.
No bullshit from himself or anyone. When generating ideas for a piece, Hess flips pages of his sketchbook until he is pleased. How Hess taps into the human experience has resonated with fans worldwide. For example, after the death of his beloved dog Jose, Hess created Heavy Heart.
A tiny coffin and red roses weigh down his back. The muscular shoulder descends into a frail wrist about to snap from the despair. While many of his images have characters trapped in a box, crushed from weight or skewered on a pole, each sings with a kind of freedom born of raw honesty. They serve the truth, no matter how difficult to digest. And it might not be something you want to see. Right before a flight to Zurich, he got dumped by a girlfriend of five months.
Off to do publicity for a book, he had an entire eight-hour flight and international trip to dwell on the breakup. Depression took him hostage. Walking around the city, he saw a bus. For a moment, he wanted to hurl himself in front of it. An end to the misery. Then, splat! A pigeon got flattened by the tires. After 16 years suppressing the urge to drink, he caved. He began drinking vodka before the book signings and quickly became the lost party boy of his youth, before his diagnoses, before his fame, before he knew better.
Hess came home, but the drinking continued just as it had overseas — hidden, even from Geramita. Yet during the tumult, Hess created one of his signature pieces.
He has it tattooed on his back, and it serves as a logo for Strhess Clothing, the merchandise company he and Geramita created. Still, the early and mid s were amazingly challenging. Once Geramita discovered Hess had relapsed, he started getting other graphic designers to help with Strhess projects. Over the next few years, Hess would go to rehab, get clean, then relapse.
It was an overload when I got out there. It left Strhess with few pieces to sell. Money was tight. He spent Christmas in the hospital to straighten out his meds. He underwent electroconvulsive therapy, where small electric currents trigger a brief seizure to reverse depression while asleep. His depression crept back, but he was sober. The group is gathered to watch Hess get tatted up live on his radio show Overrated. He has a good time and it lets him get his feet wet in advocating about important issues, including mental health.
But as the host, he gets only as vulnerable as he wants. Combat comic he loved. To many, a Hess tattoo serves as a painful reminder of survival, whether enduring the loss of a loved one, drug addiction or post-traumatic stress disorder. But he just as quickly confronts its limits. It was intended to work for me. It goes back to authenticity.
While his meds work, he still experiences weekslong depressive spurts. Occasionally, he still has suicidal thoughts and struggles with hypomania and the symptoms that come along with it including aggression, overspending and hypersexuality. Like Hess, she has dealt with substance abuse and is bipolar. Growing up, Spafford felt pain all the time. While her peers were happy, she felt isolated. But she has found a kinship in the suffering Hess depicts.
She feels less alone. They are an ode to Project Semicolon, a nonprofit for those who struggle with mental illness, suicide and addiction. If Hess has suicidal thoughts, he knows to call his doctor, check into the hospital or talk to a therapist. Back in the Capitol Theatre, Hess is slouched in a red theater seat munching buttery popcorn. Before Forced Perspective revealed his mental illness to film festival audiences throughout the country, only people close to him knew.
Hess was misunderstood, which encouraged him to keep it quiet. The film was an educational opportunity, but mental health was not intentionally the focus. Benjamin Winters watched Forced Perspective online in Zambia. An American, he had worked in development in the African country for eight years. But he was burning out. It was growing increasingly challenging to build a family and raise kids without drinking water and other modern amenities.
He fanaticized about an easier life elsewhere. A thick trail of blood pours from his fists. The blood seems to prop up his heavy, falling form. He looks to be rising from the red ashes of the fight that brought him down. What a shame. Why did you think that the Southern Rock continues to generate such a devoted following? Was heavily drawn in by the British invasion…Hendrix, Cream, Touch I set my sites far away as regarding my preference in music I listened to, or was influenced by Stevie Wonder is without a doubt one of my very favorite artist Wow, what genius.
I guess it is a message that many people can relate to As for the continuing affection for the music with new generations…it must be the comfort and contentment the music brings Which meetings have been the most important experiences for you? What is the best advice ever given you? I would have to say meeting and jamming with Levon Helm from The Band And have to include a chance meeting of Herbie Hancock I would have to say the best advice as a player came specifically in my early years in my first real recording situation in a very successful studio in Atlanta, Georgia where we were recording tracks for a group I was in.
The presiding producer, Phil Gernhardt was hard on my case about the manner in which I was playing my drum tracks When we would retreat to the control room to listen to our track, good lord he was so right.
I learned a lot from a real pro during that experience. There are several People Magazine shows up in person.. What do you miss most nowadays from the music of past?
What are your hopes and fears for the future of? I realize there are some out there, but not like it used to be. I consider an artist that can add enormous good vibes to a situation such as camping in the woods, boating, fishing or whatever is well worth lending an ear to and great appreciation for their effort to contribute to the culture of music, whatever style.
If you could change one thing in the musical world and it would become a reality, what would that be? Everything…or just go back 30 years…that would be the best. Since then, Hess has eschewed most commercial work, focusing on original drawings and fine art serigraphs. In the documentary film Forced Perspective , Hess opened up publicly for the first time about his struggles with bipolar disorder and alcoholism, and the outpouring of fan support led him to mental health activism.
He formed Acting Out! When will I receive my order? What if my order is damaged? Is everything signed by you? What does signature mean in the upgrade section? What does personalized mean in the upgrade section? Will you do a tattoo for me? Do you do interviews? I emailed you a while back, when will I get a response? How do I get started in the line of art you do? Do you do commissions?
Who are your influences? I know you suffer with Mental Health issues, any advice you can give me. Will you do a T-Shirt design for my band? Subscribe to our newsletter A short sentence describing what someone will receive by subscribing.
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