First things first, look at this image. You'll see why in a moment.
Done?
Done.
Let's get started.
You've been told you can unlearn what you've learned.
You’ve been lied to.
Vincent Desiderio opened my eyes in 2019: once you know something, you can't un-know it.
Ideas get stuck in your head, and they NEVER leave. If I tell you not to think about a pink elephant, you're already seeing one.
So… why ask students NOT to think about pink elephants? 🤷🏻♂️
Let’s do an experiment that'll blow your mind and show you how easy it is to manipulate your perception.
Right here, right now.
Don’t worry, don’t hurry.
We won't ruin your life.
Ready?
Remember the image from the beginning. The abstract blobs...
Now see the giraffe.
Look back at the blobs.
You can't unsee the giraffe, can you?
You'll never see those blobs the same way again. Forever and irreversibly, you'll see the damn giraffe.
It was there all along, only your perception changed. Those are the visual instructions you've been given, and you'll follow them against your will forever.
There's no “undo” button here.
Your will has no power here.
Visual thinking works on a deep level where intellect can't intervene.
That's how easy it is to create a mental prison and impose a viewpoint.
Every idea that enters your head alters the way you see the world.
It creates a mold, a lens, a filter.
It creates POWER.
It creates MEANING.
It creates INSTRUCTIONS.
Sometimes they’re trivial.
Sometimes they’re useful and vital.
Sometimes they mess up your life...
You dig?
You dig.
Now, think about how your education is shaping your perception.
Once you learn a way of seeing, it can’t be unlearned.
Art schools mold your vision and your work: don’t use white in shadows, black doesn’t exist, do this, never do that, if the Zorn palette is a unicorn, be careful with that, first draw casts…
All this warps your viewpoint in an (nearly) irreversible way.
It heightens your risk perception and instills fears that stay.
It makes you less you, and more your teachers.
Sometimes it’s a benefit.
And sometimes to hell with it…
That's why most students try to paint the same way. They strive to see the world through their teachers’ eyes, not their own.
Being like the one who does it "right" feels comforting, until you realize that being an artist is THE OPPOSITE.
“They’ll figure it out later,” they say.
“They’ll unlearn eventually,” they say.
“They’ll do what they want down the road,” they say.
But you can’t, no way.
And you’re not 100% sure of what you want because you’re yet to see the world 100% with your own eyes.
If you relate to this and do nothing about it, you're disrespecting yourself as an artist.
There’s an… island.
Not a school.
An island.
A refuge.
A place to RESET, break away, respite, give yourself a chance.
A walled fortress where you can turn limitations into tools and celebrate your vision without judgment.
A quarantine island with 77 oddballs like you who want to explore new viewpoints. Question what they know. No phones. No preconceptions. And where Michael Hussar, Jeremy Mann, James McCrae, Nadezda, Sainer, and Martin Wittfooth will show you the paths.
Paths, plural, yes.
Oh, and free beer and good vibes.
And sweat. And tears, the whole ride.
All this on the mysterious island.
The island of the cursed artists.
The island that'll kick your ass, once and for all.
The island that'll make you a better artist even if you don’t deserve to be.
We can't take an idea out of your head once it's wedged in there. But we can break it, turn it into a kaleidoscope.
We know how to turn limiting ideas into tools. Free you from your training without losing its use. That's our thing, our specialty.
We’re the anti-school.
That's what we’re damn good at: RESETTING YOU.
This program only works for those who don’t want to fit into molds but don’t see how to break them. If you’re one of these blessed oddballs…
APPLY FOR ADMISSION TO QUARANTINE.
P.S. 1 - The giraffe's still there, right? There's no way it'll disappear unless you give those blobs another meaning, like the visual paradox of the duck and the rabbit. If you want to put more than giraffes in that little head of yours, click above and let's rip it open.
P.S. 2 - We’re already at 15% enrollment. Get going.
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