J. Pouwels

While some would describe J. Pouwels as a scholar of the self-righteous, others would simply call him insightfully witty. Regularly attempting to turn contemporary culture on its head, printmaker Pouwels does more than just "make art" -- he deliberates on his next intrinsic, conceptual selection. Take a moment and allow him to enlighten you with five facets of life he cannot live without, despite his greatest efforts to do so.

God ... without whom athletes would never make it to the playoffs and without the playoffs there'd be no sports, and we can't do without sports for fear of the streets being flooded with testosterone-laden males ... and a few such females.

Governments ... that are so good at saying one thing and then going right on ahead and doing something completely and inexplicably different. This really eats at me and gets me going.

Corporate America. For the abuse of power it wields, usurping the genuine identity of the citizens of this land. Using advertising campaigns that exert psychological pressure as a vehicle and traveling under the rubric of popular culture, corporate America has created highly trendy over-indulgent zombies.

Tradition. I am fueled by this concept because I think "tradition" has the indomitable power to stifle growth, creativity and one's basic human rights. It can do all this without a tinge on effort.

Pollution. It makes the L.A. sunsets such a beautiful orange color. This is something we can hand down to our children.

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ARTICULATIONS offers five things important to one of Cincinnati's visual artists. To be considered, contact Jacquelyn Vaughn (jvaughn@citybeat.com).