So who is Michael Bowser? Nobody, really. But I've decided to make a website, just the same.
I've lived many different lives, but it's only the ones with artistic pretensions we're concerned with here.
So what form does my "art" take? As you may have guessed from the tabs at the top of this page, I've dabbled in many different mediums, and a myriad of "roles" within those mediums. Most of what I'm doing nowadays falls roughly under the realm of "writing", but even that covers a broad spectrum of interests. Hence why I'm most comfortable with the term "artist", even if others find such a word instantly pompous (or only associate the word with specific visual arts, such as painting and sculpture).
Look, honestly, and as you'll quickly deduce from the blurbs on the pages to come: I can be pretty self-deprecating. Do I take my "work" seriously? Absolutely. Increasingly so, in fact, as I'm becoming more of a perfectionist by the year (something I've been anything but in my not-so-distant past)! But I try not to take "myself" too seriously, and have learned over the years to separate the art from the artist. We're all human, at the end of the day.
What about the "tone" of my work? Well, I tend towards the darker stuff, generally. But also a lot of humour, even if that humour is frequently on the "black" side. Overall, the best term I've come up with to describe at least the majority of my work is...erm..."hard escapism"? This isn't to say that I don't aspire to the occasional lofty theme, but I do strive to be vaguely "entertaining" at the very, very least.
The world has, in my opinion, become entirely too serious, about precisely the wrong things. My work offers some levity, but no easy solutions. I try to avoid blatant propaganda, and believe that the best art generally invites its audience to come up with its own answers. That said, I'm not nearly as cryptic as a Kurt Cobain or a William S. Burroughs! My first and foremost ambition is to amuse, and any thought I might provoke in the process is basically a bonus!
Anyway, enough with the hokey hogwash: have some standard-issue promo-related links. Y'all love links, don't ya? This is the internet, after all. And for anyone wishing to get in contact with me, have a "professional" email address as well:
https://www.instagram.com/michaelbowserau/
https://twitter.com/MichaelBowserAU
Oh, and a final note regarding photographs on this site. Where possible, the parties responsible have been credited...but a lot of these pics were taken a long time ago, when social media was barely in its infancy, and the sources of many of the images have been difficult to confirm. Should anyone spot an image they believe they're responsible for, but not see themselves appropriately credited, don't hesitate to get in touch; I promise that the oversight will be one of sheer incompetence, as opposed to anything on the conniving side!
(Photography Copyright © Stephanie Runge.)