Being from the same home town I have been aware of Mike Shinoda for sometime now.  Today I got a gift in the mail.  The DC/MS Remix 2 shoes.  This is the second shoe that Mike has done with DC.  This latest Shoe ties into Mike’s new series of art.

When I first learned of this series I felt compelled to write about it:  Glorious Excess Born.  The name lends itself to gluttony.  I feel that they are almost interchangeable.

Artistic commentary on the life of a central character.  Showing the different aspects of the celebrity life and societies obsession whit that life.  It is very disturbing the attention any one American gives to his or her favorite celebrity.  Hours upon hours a day.  The obsession for money, power and fame seem to take control of both the celebrity but also the society that creates that celebrity.  The celebrity only exists because of the attention a society chooses to give them.

Being a member of Linkin Park, the biggest rock band on the planet, affords Mike the first hand experience to articulate the gloriously excessive culture that we live in today.  What better person to illustrate the grime realities of supper stardom.
Like a villain in a film, the character stares back at you through the painting.  He seems to be acknowledging your awareness of him.  With hundreds spilling out of his pocket, woman draped over him, and AK 47.  He acknowledges you but doesn’t seem to be bothered, as if he does not give a fuck.

Societies unquenchable thirst for instant gratification grants a pass to these celebrities THEY put on this pedestal.  Face reality or take your daily dose of people/us/intouch magazine for brief moments of levity?  Take the levity, going against the grain causes abrasions.

In January there will be the second instalment of this series: Glorious Excess Dies