MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009
Under the Disco Lights - Sam Frazier

 

Sam Frazier (of trustfido.com ) is an amazing talent, with views on life and personal views on gay culture which would make the sweetest man pout with bitterness, which is possibly what I adore about him.
He graciously battled through an early morning interview to cater for the time difference, so please devour.

nickdisco: so you ready to jump in head first... guns a blazing etc...

trustfido: ha ha sure

nickdisco: So when did you begin as an artist, was it something you grew up with or developed later?

trustfido : I remember as a child wishing that I was artistic. I have no idea why I wished that, but I remember always wishing that I was. It wasn't until I was in my early twenties and taking general ed requirement classes at a community college that I made a connection with my artistic self. I remember taking an "art appreciation" class and thinking to myself "this is it... i'm going to study art no matter if I am any good at it or not... this just feels right..."

nickdisco: Medium wise, where did you start and how has it evolved?

trustfido: Well the first art class that I took, if I remember correctly, was an introduction to design course. In that class we were able to create most of our work using any media we wanted and I gravitated towards collage type work. Later I took regular drawing and painting classes but I didn't feel any connection to those media. Then I transferred to UCSD and the program there was very conceptual and theoretical; Marcel Duchamp was the department "god" and so they encouraged work that used alternative media. My work at UCSD was a lot of site-specific installations and quite a bit of performance art, I used a lot of found materials, including a lot of found photography and other found imagery. After I left UCSD I started making a lot of work that was meant to be hung on a wall but I continued to use found materials. After a while I wanted to explore taking my own photographs to use in my mixed media work. I never took any photography courses in school so I have had to learn photography on my own, and that eventually led to my current obsession with video art. I've only been doing photography for about the past five years and the video I've only been doing for a few months now.

nickdisco: so you are working more with video now? How and why did this progression come about?

trustfido: Well as I said, I've always used found imagery in my work and so I had a collection of old photographs and old film that I bought at thrift stores and swap meets and I've had some old 8mm home movies in a drawer for years and years. As I became more comfortable with still photography, video seemed like a natural progression. it has also helped that the technology to record video has become so affordable.

I think it was just a matter of time before I got into video as I've always had a huge love for film and actually studied film making when I first started college. Actually I should clarify that: I took some film making classes but the were mostly film theory classes. I never actually made any films way back then.

nickdisco: Your works, in particular your photography and videos can be quite confronting, but at the same time seem to tell some amazing stories. What are the mains themes you have expressed through your plethora or creations, and how do they relate to your own life?

trustfido: oh boy... ha ha... well I've always felt out of sync with the world; I never felt like I fit in anywhere. As I've gotten older I have come to realized that I don't agree with any of the standard norms that we are taught about how we are supposed to live our lives, especially when it comes to relationships. I don't understand this idea of connecting with another person for the rest of my life, I look around and see people being very afraid of change and its hard to understand. To me life is all about change and accepting new ideas and learning new things and it seems a lot of people want time to stand still... they want people to stay the same. In my opinion people become fucked up emotionally when they stop accepting change as a natural way of life. My earliest work was about rejecting the status quo of the "white picket fence" and all those traditional family values. I find myself rejecting more and more of those social norms. I'm sure you're aware of the big controversy in the U.S. about gay marriage and I have a hard time with getting behind gay marriage because i don't understand why anyone, including straight people, want to be married. Similarly I don't support the hedonistic gay lifestyle either; i'm not promiscuous at all, which may sound like a contradiction but I reject straight standards and gay standards. For me there is a happy medium that works for me and I wish more people found their own way instead of following the conventions that have been set by different social groups.

nickdisco: ((This is where I gushed like a lame faggot)))

trustfido: ha ha

nickdisco: Tell me about your first exhibition...

trustfido: so my first exhibition... that's hard for me to define. I mean I had exhibitions in college, but that doesn't really count. then when I finished college I had a large site-specific installation that was created for an arts group here in san diego called "sushi.". After that sort of dropped off the radar and stop exhibiting, then in 2002 I quit my job and started making art full time, so in a way, I didn't have my first exhibition until 2003. Honestly, it was rather uneventful. to me, it's all about making the work and then when the work is completed, I lose interest in it. I'm more interested in what I'm going to make next. I love to exhibit my work, but I love making the work more.

nickdisco: In your photography and videos your models are very different... how did you go about selecting them?

trustfido : Well, basically I'm at at mercy of the people who will volunteer to model for me. I find people online mostly, I look through online profiles and try to find people who appear to be comfortable in front of the camera and prefer people who have an unusual appearance...something unique about them. It is hard because very rarely do I get the people I really want to pose for me. I try to avoid photographing guys that fall into that standard idealized version of beauty; I recognize the beauty of an abercrombie and fitch model but at the same time it can be so boring, especially when that is the only type we are presented with in the media... especially the gay media. So really I am happy to photograph anyone who is comfortable in front of the camera, you can really tell in a photograph when the subject in uncomfortable.

nickdisco: What is your perceptions on gay culture as a whole...

trustfido : oh boy... I'm not going to be very popular now... I often don't even feel like I'm gay, or maybe I should say that the gay label doesn't feel very comfortable for me. I don't connect with gay culture at all, it all seems to incredibly shallow. I don't want to work out every day of the week so I can look hot and go to circuit parties and I don't want to have sex with someone just because they look hot. I have to make some kind of personal connection with another person before I can even think about having sex with them and I don't mean I need to fall in love and get married. I just need to like and respect someone and feel that back from them before I can have sex. I don't see a lot of that in the gay community.

nickdisco: you seem to stand apart from what is considered to be gay culture, what do you think defines mainstream gay culture, and how would you change it?

trustfido: I think mainstream gay culture tends to be somewhat vapid. There is too much emphasis on looks.! I really question the idea of spending several hours a day in the gym, anyone who can't find anything better to do with their time can't be all that interesting to talk to, and I find promiscuity to be such a turn off. It's not a moral issue for me; it's a respect issue. anonymous sex, in my opinion, shows a lack of respect for yourself and for the other person. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy a little recreational sex now and again, but like anything else, all good things in moderation - quality over quantity. i If i'm going to have no-strings sex with someone, I really want to know more about you than "top or bottom." As far as changing gay culture... hmmm... how nice would it be if there was no gay culture? I mean, the only reason for the existence of gay culture is because homosexuality is not accepted by mainstream culture. What if sleeping with the same sex was completely a non-issue and everyone could just get along? It just seems so silly that a sexual act can separate an entire segment of the population. Is where we put our dicks the only thing binding us together and keeping us apart from heterosexuals?

nickdisco: ((Gushes again like a silly faggot))

trustfido:oh stop... you're gonna make me blush... ha ha

nickdisco: So its my thing, I always wrap with something person and something stupid.. WHat was your first sexual experience and **something stupid** If you could only save from a burning building fran dresher or elton john who would it be and why?

trustfido:ok... first sexual experience... I must have been 12 or 13 and me and my best friend at the time used to steal my dad's liquor and we'd get drunk and play strip poker and games where we would dare each other to do things... things that usually ended up getting more and more sexual. we only ever went as far as oral with each other though... **sigh** if only we'd had more time... Now let's see... I would save fran dresher because she has always struck me as a pretty cool person... you know, when I've seen her in interviews, and elton john is an amazing talent, but let's face it, all his great music has already been written and recorded and if he dies in a fire we'll still have that music. Plus he strikes me as an arrogant gas-bag these days anyway.

 

POSTED BY NICK DISCO AT 11:50 PM

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