What is What

The Doc is titled CRUTCH Its been a long time coming.

Performance Strategy, "Manifestation Of The Minds' Eye Imagined" #billshannon 2014 Photo by Garret Jones 2014

Street Performance, Skateboarding Crutch Goofball Provocateur Character #billshannon 2014 Photo by Garret Jones 2014

My plate is full this year with multiple ongoing projects. The Rex "project" mentioned below several months ago has stabilized after 6 months of staggeringly little sleep ( or awake-ness ) and I am happy to share with you that the Rexy continues to payoff in a myriad of very small beautiful ways and I am BACK!

ABOVE: Limited Edition Lithographic Print by Bill Shannon, "I Will Dance With Strangers" 2012 I have ten of these for sale.

ABOVE: Painted Skateboard Griptape Graphics To Communicate medical usage of Crutches with a Skateboard To Complete Strangers. The graphics emulate existing color and symbols in public space for safety boundaries and disabled people. I also added the Red Cross with MED written inside it to further reinforce the message. Normally graphics are painted on the bottom of the board and the tops are black griptape. Communicating through symbols from the top of the board is a very useful way to answer questions without them being asked.

Greetings dear Readers. It has been far too long since I have last posted here. If you have been with me since the beginning then you are well aware that I do have these long breaks between posts. This site is not really a bloggers site, in the blogger sense of blogging daily, but rather an artist's site that starts and stops and starts again with a regular irregularity.

ABOVE: "Keep Dancing" Intaglio Ink Print on Archival Paper 8x10 2012

ABOVE: Stepping Roll Toe Up Footwork on a cruiser board

I often times i send you here because i have just met you and you have asked me a question. Often times I dont know your name and you dont know mine. If you came here I first off want to Sincerely Thank You for not reacting negatively to my answer of " if you really want to know the answer to your question go to my website whatiswhat.com I cannot expain now". Thank you for not letting your ego misinterpret negatively me just trying to get on with my life without expaining something to you as I have been asked so many times before. Its not personal at all. I dont always say -go to my website- to every person that does ask me questions. There are many factors. If I sent you here and you came for an explanation of the specifics of why I came to skate with crutches that story is here. " What happened to you?" What do you call that" What kind of crutches are those" What happened to your leg? " etc.etc.etc. These are the questions that I am asked and whatiswhat.com remains a tool for me to deflect some of the inquisitive if disbelieving attempts to figure me out.

ABOVE: BLOWFISH STRATEGY. In my world of phenomenology and identification of sociological dynamics in public space the development of performed "strategies" as tools to unlock disable or otherwise transform the implications on my life of a given phenomena are important. The BLOWFISH STRATEGY is part of my engagement with the almost constant phenomena of AMBIGUITY OF DISABILITY. In other words...

THISISWHATISWHAT

ABOVE: original notebook scan. Illustrated Notes on Cultural Phenomenology; The Condition Arriving and notions of invisibility within its context. I have posted this same image in the 2D section of this site but it is cleaned up of all the writing.

A significant portion of my work is about phenomenological events i bear witness to and am also highly sensitive to. The use of performance art as a real-time anthropological sociological tool to investigate define and categorize phenomena is at the core of this healing practice.  My interactions with pedestrians and random individuals in public space is constantly evolving and changing over the course of time and my increased level of experience.  This reality of being in public is a balancing act between getting on with my life and exploring new territories of my art. They serve each other and are therefore one and the same in many instances.

ABOVE: Shannon Technique, Hi-Mid Lo-Mid Split   Photo: Dawn Blackman

“Through Shannon Public Works*, I plan on reconciling the gap between what I feel is possible in experiencing street performances and what audiences up until this moment have been able to experience. The three interrelated projects making up Shannon Public Works are connected by the conceptual belief that a naturally-occurring street environment is imposed upon by an audience to the extent that a virtual proscenium is manifested and the performance is thereby isolated from the very environment it is meant to exist within. The efforts made in Shannon Public Works address this conceptual belief and are designed to allow an audience to watch a performance in the street while preserving the integrity of the landscape. In short, I wish for audiences to see as I see and walk as I walk but at the same time allow me space to share without being in the context of their gaze.”