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October 15, 2024
Salty Walt McDonald _ Artist Statement
Salty Walt McDonald
I was born in a small Texas town in 1973, and grew up in Houston. Tattooing found me through juvenile delinquency at age 12. I drew some as a child, but really my introduction/interest in art or creating was fostered and born out of my love for Tattooing; it was rebellious unforgiving and at the time crazy as fuck - just like me (at the time-sometimes still).
I dropped out of school in the 7th grade, and was in and out of institutions for more birthdays than not between the ages of 12 and 21. A longer stretch from 17-20 lead to a spiritual awakening/self realization that is ongoing to this day. I feel like my work is the uncovering of clues I’ve left myself often shrouded in an Existifying symbology that I think I understand sometimes, but mostly I’m just tracing and trusting and drawing and downloading, then hopefully being. A transmitter of something beyond the idea that I started with at the beginning, and something that hopefully keeps me on my toes and not bored. I believe all the creative power in the whole universe was/is inside us just waiting to come out. I reckon tracing designs over and over and over again for years allowed me some muscle memory, and that along with opening and surrendering to – what I can only describe as God – helped with developing a vocabulary or way of thinking or imagining things in my own unique voice, that isn’t mine at all. It’s the voice of the Invisible Helpers.
Posted by Anno Domini