Artist Profile 026: Amos Oaks

I am a multi-media artist and Knoxville Community Media’s Director of Operations.  I have been an artist my entire life and have participated in public access television as a volunteer, producer, and employee since 1991.  I love public access television because it is one of the last existing platforms that remains true to its original mission to offer completely uncensored  free-speech and free-expression to everyone in a community.  I'm also fond of the opportunity it gives individuals to learn real life-skills and to explore storytelling.

I tell fragmented stories and tend to pursue traumatic themes through illustration, paint, object (found, sculptural, structural), video, sound, and smell.  My installations are intended to capture loaded moments in a frame similar to the illustrated bibles or comic books I grew up with.

My shows are always paired with an orchestrated performative element that ties the works together and serves as a cinematic backdrop to elicit emotion.  They are also paired with lengthy text that is a reflection of my personal struggle and mission to create the work.  These texts are likely problematic and rarely get read but they remain an important part of my process.

It took 49 years of mark making for me to become an individual who is comfortable making work that is often figurative, illustrative, representational, allegorical, and so many more unpopular tropes that an institution of art might sometimes look down on. 

This project came out of my love for skateboarding and it's relation to storytelling.  I've been a skateboarder since I was 13.  I still ride regularly and co-host a television program on Knoxville Community Media with my skateboard crew titled "Kickturn Party".

amosoaks.com