InterView Don Shearer AUG2013

As a painter and installation artist you have devoted your energy to the depths and dynamics of love, it’s complexities and cultural necessity –
What inspired this direction in your work, was it a choice?

There was a book I came across called 'A Course in Miracles' about spiritual transformation of a non-dualistic philosophy of forgiveness (LOVE) that has inspired most of my artistic and creative work. I guess there was a choice in picking up the book, but then again where I was at that time in my life, I'm not really sure I had a choice. I do have an artist statement that sort of says it all - "As an artist I expierience everything in life at the deepest level of fascination, to be the only one just like me, yet to rhyme with everyone. As a human being, I arrive feeling human and I strive on being, as a brother I dedicate my life to you, for life without you i would be alone."

How would you describe the idea and /or the essence of love, its existence and presence in our lives?

For me, god is LOVE, its that simple.

I have learnt and I am continually learning, and I want to believe, that love is all there is - that the opposite of love is not hate, the opposite of love is fear and fear doesn't actually exists, and that love is the only last eternal force. I realize this is 'just a thought' and 'just an idea', but certainly it is both a good thought and a good idea to have in your head. It's no news or any kind of surprise, and of course, it was something I already knew, I just needed to be reminded and the "A Course in Miracles' was that reminder.

So back to the question of choice, at any moment we can choose to change our thinking. I believe in the end and in my dreams, I envision everyone to be in a perfect circle of love where there is no beginning and there is no end. You know that feeling you get when a song blows up at a rave and everyone is in perfection together, perfect rhythm, no worries. Or the safety in numbers at a Rainbow gathering, those collective ways of being, where it truly is a WELCOME HOME brother - this is all about and for a PEACE and HARMONY, and it's also my idea of forever. Although, I still really like the idea of armor and a love for all the flags, dust, and pageantry, and the unraveling of war, but to be serious it does feel real that love will win in the end. I think love is the only true lesson we have to learn. As a child growing up in church, I definitely got the love part and all the rest was shit.

What philosophies, principles, and values guide your creative process?

Well... for me, to create means to extend that which is our natural state. So, with my work (ministry) I want to express what I am feeling, what I am experiencing without any fear(s) of judgment or constraints of conformity, so that whomever the work is meant to reach, the expression will be an expression of truth, they will get the truth. My work is about relating to others, relating to others is wonderful, relating to others is a way of telling us that we are not so alien to each other, even if it is only one person we can really feel on this planet, it's enough. Without that 'brother' or 'sister' it would be too dark to survive. Art can speed that up those connections.. a song can make me cry, a dress can make me walk across the street, a painting can be a window to a backyard I never got to play in.

Your work often reflects the unseen world spirit world, angelic and ethereal, an unearthing of a soul's resilience, tenderness and strength – what has drawn you to the subjects and ambiances you create?

For awhile now, the theme of my work has been about telling the story by not investing too much in the physical, understanding that we do evaporate and our rugged sexy boots will be left somewhere in some thrift store for another to enjoy. Essentially, the 'spirit', all 22 grams, will hover and go on, energy has not start and no end. I'm not sure why I am a messenger of these ideas and thoughts, but I can say it's always the spirit that actually paints all my best stuff.

When we met around 1996 you handed me an image of a Cold War era fallout shelter sign turned upside down and reframed to be an ‘Allout Shelter’ –
What was the vision with this conceptual piece?

ALLOUT SHELTER was about seeing these obsolete signs, relics of the Cold War, signs that equalled a false sense of safety still hanging about, still posted everywhere. This gave me the idea to black out the 'F' on 'Fallout' to become 'Allout' and paint the triangle pink (the sign of homosexuality), this giving meaning as a safe place to be Out, or to simply be yourself. When I created this piece, it ended up being embraced by the transgender communities and the fetish world, they were the new kids on the block, they needed their shield, they needed safe places to be.

Hitler first gave the pink triangles to be tag homosexuals for special persecution, then the gay community inverted it - to own it. But it was first used on the shields of greek soldiers so they could identify and know who their gay brothers were, to feel a special comradery with their brothers. Forget about 'don't ask, don't tell' but know who your people are. What a history with the pyramids and pink…

You describe your work as a ministry of love, a way of serving your community, in turn you have sacrificed conventional success, certainty and stability – what has compelled you to this path?

I knew very early on in life, around the age of 9 years old that I would live my life as a monk, as a nazarene. Of course, it made no sense at the time, but when you are dedicated to truth, life just gets in the way. I am saying that I have had a few 15minutes or more than my share… As a monk, sitting in a tree watching the heat rise off the sand is just more interesting to me than the 'flat-wear'. People in society have a fixed agenda, so they tend to be more distracted. For me, I don't mind taking the next plane out or sleeping at the airport. Control leaves no element of surprise.

In the mid-1980s the Gay community was hit by the hyper-politicized HIV/Aids epidemic, resulting in your work ‘The Positive Heart’, created with HIV positive blood from an anonymous donor on Valentine’s day in 1990 – What was the message of this work?

With this work the idea here is that BEING positive does help. I love being sad, it's a dimension for deeper understanding, but sadness is different from being negative, negativity slows us down, and that was really what I was saying at the time. I was also trying to communicate that idea to a very destructive crowd. At the time, i was thinking about being diseased verses being dis-eased and I was examining if there was any difference.

While HIV/Aids compounded stereotypes for the Gay community, it also caused great suffering and grief, insecurities and fear for many Gay men – How did this stir a sense of responsibility?

What I can do is to try, just to try, through my work to offer ideas through conceptual thoughts like I was able to do with ALLOUT SHELTER - ultimately what I can do, is create work that reminds us and everyone to be honest and not afraid of who you are and to let that be known. Secrets seem to lessen knowledge of ourselves and of others, and with that - Is there really any understanding?

Your work aligning the American Flag with symbols of the heart deals with the crossroads of American identity, politics, sexuality, perceptions of being and love as source of miraculous shifts – What is the significance of this work?

I was reading a line in 'A Course In Miracles' that said, "when you choose to see love ,love is all you will see." Pondering that, I was laying on my bed, turned over on my side, looking out my window where I saw the American flag hanging sideways and blocking the sun. So, imagine in this moment, I am now looking at this American flag from an upside down perspective, and at the same moment, I am thinking about how we can choose love, and when we choose to see love, we do see love, and love is all we see. This is when I saw it for the first time, that if you look at the American flag upside down there are blue heart shapes in the field between the white stars, the heart shapes… symbols of love. So the concept was to me… S.O.S. --- LOVE SAVES THE DAY. When we as a country are in trouble or distress we fly the flag upside down and in times of trouble love is always the answer.

So, I took this vision I had seen, I painted the heart shapes red and showed the flag upside down. This is my favorite thing I have ever conceptualized, created, and made. I think this is because of the miracle that sincerely exists - seeing things in a different way does bring us to have a personal experiences, to have personal miracles. This was one moment in my life that I truly saw that signs do appear when they have a reason to appear - and this about what we choose to see.

What are some of the challenges that enlighten your sense of devotion?

$$ is always a challenge. Though I am always learning (and experiencing) what I really need is always somehow provided. i have made less than 53 thousand dollars in my whole life and I'm 53 years old - I'm not sure I need much more from this point on. When people take care of you, sometimes paying your way, supporting you - you feel like your doing something right. Devotion is just looking at each letter as I slowly type it out, as I make sure it is the one word i spell correctly.

Do you feel as though you have tapped into a purpose, a passion, a calling – your life’s work?

My purpose, my calling, my life's work - It is finished. After I finished the last of the 3 conceptual works (The Positive Heart, ALLOUT SHELTER, and Memorial Flag) all happening within a few years apart (1990-93), I felt like I had left my mark, I felt as though I had brought forth my message, nothing new but remodeled for my time. At that point, I did feel done and I have never since felt anxious as an artist waiting or wanting for success.

When you dream – what is the experience, where do your thoughts, your heart, gravitate?

My dreams are the only private thing I have in my life, and so...
I do not speak of them.