Josh Pontius

Like most people, I have been fascinated by stories of violence and the heroes that emerge from them since I was very young. This is not to say I condone acts of violence, but we live in a culture that glorifies it. As a kid I watched a lot of war movies, I read books about battles, I got in fights, I played with toy soldiers making my own stories. As human beings we are drawn to stories, as can be seen by the rich oral traditions and legends that seem to exist in every culture. I personally, was drawn to many heroic narratives, I believe these keep being told because as human beings we are drawn to characters we can identify with at some level. It's my belief that we are also drawn to these same stories for inspiration, hope and bits of ideology.

 

I have often wondered what would make the best story. I think a lot of people have done that too, so we try again and again to come up with one that can be better than the last. Over and over we try, but a lot of the time we end up using bits and pieces from stories we have read or imagined or seen before. The combination of our favorite pieces is all we are going for. As far as I know, nobody has succeeded in creating the perfect final story.

 

So I keep trying new combinations of things from here or there. I keep trying to find something that I think is the best. I think that's a good way to talk about the journey and the destination. Just trying over and over to not only out do yourself but all of those people that inspire you. Trying to pay homage to your heroes while you compete with them is certainly difficult. But we all have to try: the struggle, the violence of it, is what we have to work on. So I keep trying.

 

In my current work I am paying homage to some of my favorite stories from my childhood. I am trying to capture moments of imminent violence in miniature dioramas from Robin Hood, Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers, and King Arthur.