TheRingOfDOOM 00025: Inside Dalí's Portlligat Studio

I’ll be splicing up my Dalí footage for the next few months because it was such a rad experience that I don’t want to be over. This is a dream studio to say the least. Salvador Dali’s moving easel alone would make it swoonworthy for most artists but for me the best part about this room are all the tiny details… like these 80s cassette/8 track players. I’m very curious to know what music he was playing on the radical round radio in the YouTube image… I’m thinking The Cars for some reason but I’m just making this up as I go along (seems like he and Ric Ocasek would have gotten along).

Dalí abandoned this house and the unfinished painting on the easel when Gala died back in 1982 but their magic remains. I was guided through the house with a group of 8 and our multi-lingual guide didn’t seem to think photographing a tiny lips couch next to a Dalí lips couch was funny but still let me do it. One of the German children on the tour thought I was the most interesting thing in Dali’s house so he’ll forever be in TheRingOfDOOM’s posse. Since I had emailed many people affiliated with Spain’s Dalí museums previous to my trip, they knew I was coming but have yet to roll out a welcome mat… I WILL have a collage art show on site somewhere in one of the Dalí museums eventually because I won’t stop trying. I had been at Museu Dalí in Figueres with my collages just two days earlier and was super respectful of their boundaries so I don’t think they were worried. I would love to see the security footage of me inside Dali’s house because that would have likely been the funniest thing about the whole trip.

In hindsight, I can see how filming my excitement about photographing my art inside Dalí museums would have been a wise move but I’m still hesitant to be the star of my own videos. I’ve pledged to myself to start doing that in the next few days because my overwhelming enthusiasm is the best part of the #MFDALÍ project. I’ve just realized that I’ve misinterpreted the mask/airplane metaphor and put someone else’s mask on… what happens next?

TheRingOfDOOM 00024: Bristolian Transformation

For quite some time, my internal compass has been telling me to take TheRingOfDOOM to Bristol to drink the water and have a transformation. I seriously fished my wish and was blessed to get drenched in the Bristol rain multiple times on my recent last minute photo adventure. The last minute trip was the most awesome thing I’ve done in my 41 years so far: the whole #MFDALÍ collages blessed on Salvador Dalí’s grave and in his house thing, Bristol, Shoreditch, my Street Art Tour with Josh from Alternative London, discovering Home Slice Pizza, (the irony), the Jam Baxter/High Focus Records show at Westbank, the giant Halloween Bristol Hip Hop rave, TheRingOfDOOM and his lips couch on Dali’s plastic lips couch near his pool and fountains, getting footage outside Aardman Animation Studios, pastries, salt beef on beigels, prosciutto sandwiches, the greens at the hipster steak place; very excited to top this adventure with the next. I plan on spending 2020 being at or creating all the most interesting art events in the world. Cue Heart’s “Straight On.”

My double Banksy & Soker photo would definitely be a two page image in my photo book.

Now that I’m finally weaving together the narrative of all my adventures into easily consumable content, the #MFDALÍ story will have a chance to break out of its cocoon in my brain. I could easily create tons of content every night in my hotel room while I’m hydrating in but I prefer to hoard the footage/photos because I haven’t been able to travel as much as I hoped to. Since I’ve declared myself to be a Street Art Photographer (as well as Artist/Music Industry Swiss Army Knife/Creator of TheRingOfDOOM & MusicVideoPedia), I like to keep reminding people all over the world how great both of us are. I’ll be moving all my stuff into storage at the end of the year when my lease ends, leaving for a brief Merch Manager gig with some of my favorite humans, and heading out on an epic multi-month road trip adventure with at least one artist friend. It’s time to go all in on Plan A, so here’s another few pieces of it…

TheRingOfDOOM and the Greta Thunberg mural at Aldi on North Street in Bristol.

The reason I was blessed to find Dame Emily park is because the previous day I had met a Street Art Tour Guide who has been a Bristol-based Graffiti photographer since the 80s after being spotted with TheRingOfDOOM at a Banksy mural and a stencil piece by JPS. He introduced me to his tour and I gave them all stickers while I realized my elevator pitch for TheRingOfDOOM has been neglected far too long. He directed me to the Stokes Croft neighborhood as well as North Street and I was able to make some seriously beautiful photos. Since I’ve returned home, he’s helped me to tag artists in my Instagram photos and follow the internet wormholes of Bristol Street Art. I plan on making all kinds of ridiculous mini movies with the Bristol footage in the coming weeks. Sharing a couple of my favorite photos in this post because that’s what one does when aiming to publish a series of Street Art Photography books. If I had not gone to Bristol, I’d have never had the opportunity to learn so much about its Street Artists, eat that pho, have the transformation in rain, meet Johnnation, sing in that tunnel, or leave a few my Ghostface stickers circa flyers for his upcoming show there. The seeds I planted on this trip will blossom into giant redwoods because I’ll be back in May and fertilize the MF out of them (I can only say that publicly because I’m a woman).

TheRingOfDOOM and Banksy’s Well Hung Lover in Bristol, UK

TheRingOfDOOM and JPS Street Art in Bristol, UK

I know I’ll step out of my comfort zone into YouTube myself very soon but for now TheRingOfDOOM series remains instrumental and starring just my tiny fictional character. I keep thinking about asking someone’s opinion about how to move forward… but who? Aside from the obvious influences of MF DOOM and everything else I’ve ever seen, this project remains 100% me and I’ve truly enjoyed being able to be the sole creator of an entire universe. Some of my favorite humans are those who have created epic characters and built on them all the way to sequel/prequel film status. Repotting this project into a larger setting helps it to grow and this is still only the beginning. I’ve already asked some rad humans to become part of the story and time will tell how TheRingOfDOOM and I’s story develops.

If you’d like to watch me learn how to use iMovie, the full playlist of TheRingOfDOOM’s tour videos can be found here. 00025 is in the works…

TheRingOfDOOM 00018: Search For The Space Stones

I filmed this back in April on a photo shoot for #100DaysOfTheRingOfDOOMcollages. Thanks to this #100DayProject, I’m finally finishing stuff! I realize none of these videos are perfect but I had a great time making them and I learn a ton via the editing process; the whole point. It was made entirely on my iPhone 8+ and it reflects my own life more than I originally meant it to.

These are the “stones” that were on the end of @TheRingOfDOOM’s staff when he filmed his Sun Ra tribute in the desert and this video was intended to be a prequel of sorts…

TheRingOfDOOM 00017: Hangin' At Hirshhorn

Yet another video that has been fermenting in iMovie way too long. This was the museum in which one of the security guards told me he liked my @TheRingOfDOOM belt buckle more than most of the art in the museum so I’ll always remember it fondly… even though it was in DC. So glad I’m doing this 100 Day Project so I can use all the footage I acquired over the last few years via overextending myself for my camera roll.