My responses to questions about my life as an artist from Elena Toradova, director of Cerise Art Agency

1. WHO IS ERIC SCOTT BLOOM, aka MODARTIST?
I am an artist who has grown to the point, now being 48, of being able to put
myself in a mind-space which allows me to create without experiencing any doubts
that what I'm doing is good, right, necessary, and beautiful. To some, that may
seem like an art cliche,' the ego-maniacal "arteest." There is ego involved. How
could there not be? But it's much more complex and meaningful than just ego. I
have come to the conclusion that there is inevitable death, and that through
art, in whatever form, death is not the end. We artists leave something behind
when we disappear into the cosmos. These paintings, songs, photographs, poems,
films, diaries---these objects are like magical talismans, which hold the key to
the whole human condition, at least from my perspective. A great painter dies,
and his essence remains in one of his or her "masterpieces." Hopefully,
available to the ears & eyes of the world....
I have tapped into spirituality, which is partly a way to deal with one's own
mortality, and by coming to stark realizations about impermanence, I seem able
to create with ease, and in the belief that I am not only making something; I am
saying something. And so I make art that I myself wish to see. I write and
record songs that I myself want to hear. I never write, or paint, or dance for
anyone's pleasure, except my own. I gorge myself on myself. The magic happens
when someone else who might hear or see, can FEEL what I might have been tapped
into when creating the piece. Then there's a melding of consciousness, and
that's when potentially an artist can shake the world at large. I think that
shaking just one person at a time has made me all the more appreciative of those
who are willing to put their prejudices aside, and be open to one of my works. A
painting, a photo, a song; it doesn't really matter what the medium is. The
important thing for me, is did the viewer get a sense of spirit and my "Inner
Vision?" A jolt to the "soul." The art should beg the questions: "What IS
'soul'?" "What is spirituality?" And "Can art and spirituality become one?" I
believe this is possible. I know it; I've felt it, and seen it throughout my
life, in the work of those I revere, and always will.
EARLIEST INSPIRATION
When I was no more than five or six, I would visit my great-grandparents
apartment in Brookline, MA. This is 1967. Summer Of Love. I was six in the
summer of love. That means everything in my art. My grand-parents' son, my great
uncle Leon, had a closet that I would find fascinating, because I found him so,
and I would crawl in there and raid it. It was your typical closet in many ways,
but, the floor was hidden by piles and piles of books. Great, wondrous books.
Stand-outs for me was a Dali monograph. Seeing those canvases at six years old
did something to my brain and my heart. There was also Aldous Huxley. Antonin
Artaud. Picasso monographs. Art Deco. Surrealism. Existentialism. Beat poetry.
It was all there, and it excited me to no end. At six, I set out to emulate
these painters, writers and thinkers. My musical journey began after a decade
and a half of being raised, from age six months, on Beatles and Elvis. When I
was in Freshman year of highs school, I heard a song on the radio---in art
class!---which I assumed was called "Everybody Must Get Stoned." I later found
it's title to be "Rainy Day Women, #'s Twelve & Thirty Five." It was Bob Dylan,
and life was never the same after that very moment. He has inspired me in every
aspect of my creative life and suppositions. Whether he knows it or not, Bob
was, and is, my mentor. He EMBODIES the creative process for me. And so I have
taken my passion for Bob Dylan, and Dali and Picasso and Lenny Bruce and
Muhammad Ali and Woody Allen and Jimi Hendrix and Anne Sexton and Jim Morrison &
The Doors and Robert Rauschenberg and RB Kitaj and Joeseph Beuys and Paul Klee
and Robert Frank and Diane Arbus and Jackson Pollock and John Lennon and Patti
Smith, and countless others, mixed them all up in a big, boiling cauldron of
soup, and drank it all down in one long gulp; a gulp lasting forty years, and
is still going strong. I mixed it with my own spirit, and put the elixir that
resulted into all my artwork. The magical, mystical potion that allows me to
make a painting, out of nothingness.
IF YOU COULD PAINT AS ONE PARTICULAR ARTIST, WHO WOULD THAT BE?

2. Can I choose myself? I choose myself. However, if in fact the question regards
which artist BESIDES myself, then I will choose, at this moment, Salvadore Dali.
The man appeared by his work, to me, to be "more" than human. A spectral wave of
pure energy and thought. A craftsman with the imagination of a hundred painters
and a thousand poets combined. Tomorrow, I might choose someone else. Everyday
is another chance to discover something truly magical, to add to my list of
protean influences.
ARE YOU EXHIBITING OR WORKING ON NEW PROJECTS?
I am not exhibiting. I am living in a room, where I make art. I am attempting to
compile all the work into one whole ouevre, before time runs out. I am writing
songs at an alarming clip, and thrusting them into being, without looking back.
I see how quickly life passes. I just want to get it all together, and get as
much more done as my mind and body can muster the energy for. The older I get,
the more critical it becomes that I make and disseminate the work. If you knew
me like close friends and family, you'd see I am mad. Years ago I learned of
Arthur Rimbaud's philosophy of aesthetics and creativity. The raising of the
body's essences, including the dark poisons, and boiling them down into the
QUINTESSENCE of one's creative self. "A long, drawn out derangement of the
senses..." This is how I attempt to make my art my very own. To give homage to
my mentors, but add in the quintessence of my derangement. Bob Dylan said "Chaos
is a friend of mine." That about sums up my battle to be, and remain, an artist,
until my last dying breath. And my legacy will be that my works, in all media,
represent my spirit, and my un-dying love for my dear, beautiful child, Kyle
Eric Bloom; my one and only "Bubba." It is for him and me that I make and
create.
WHAT IS MY MESSAGE TO THE WORLD, AND WHICH OF MY WORKS BEST REPRESENTS IT.
I feel I have made works in a multitude of different media that I could choose
to represent my artistry. It's a very confining spot for me to be sure, as I am
in favor of seeing as much of an artist's work, at any one time, as possible, in
order to truly get a feeling for what makes him or her tick. But it's also a
liberating question, because your choice of a single painting to represent
thousands of others makes you really get in touch with your artistic spirit. It
just so happens I can answer this very easily, in regard to paintings. It's a 16
x 20 inch oil on canvas, called KYLE ERIC BLOOM (INFANT), and it is my portrait
of my son when he was six months old. I wanted to capture his innocence, but I
ended up also portraying his vulnerability. As I am big on homages, it is my
ultimate homage to love, fatherhood, spirituality, innocence, childhood, and
Kyle, who's birth awakened a place in my heart I never knew existed. A humble,
simple, small artwork that says more about me than a million words could pin
down. I have painted several portraits of Kyle, at all ages. They all mean the
world to me. This one is special.
I asked him if someone offered me $100,000 for it, if he thought I should take
the money, and give it to him for his education. He was adamant. "Don't ever
sell that one, Dad. I want to have it in my family forever.