I’m excited to be launching an ongoing series of interviews with wrestling fan artists on The Spectacle of Excess. To kick off the series, the fabulous Punkrockbigmouth has given us her wise insight about wrestling as art and art about wrestling. In that wrestling fandom is a microcosm of the bigger picture, PRBM is our great political cartoonist. I asked her five questions and to show and tell about her three favorite wrestlers to draw . . .
Spectacle of Excess: Why is wrestling art? And why does it make such a good subject for art?
Punkrockbigmouth: Why is wrestling art? Why not? It’s a live performance. If Mummenschanz is art, wrestling is art. It makes a good subject for art because there’s movement, drama, characters and costumes. The athletic wonders in the ring are cause for celebration and inspiration. When I watch wrestling, even the most subtle things can cause an extreme emotional response or rouse a silly thought. I have an urgent need to express what I feel inside as best I can through creation. If I can find the time.
SofX: Is there a difference between fan art and “real” art?
PRBM: No. Anyone who tells you different is a snob.
About Studs: “Shinsuke Nakamura is my favorite wrestler and he is very unique. Strange looking. I really enjoy drawing faces, especially Shinsuke Nakamura’s face. It is a good and interesting face, but he has no face in this piece. This was for his debut in NXT. He left his home & put everything that was familiar and comfortable behind him so he could chase his destiny. He decided to become a bigger star and perform in front of a new audience. It was sad but exciting. Sometimes I draw his face just to be silly, but thinking about this voyage and seeing pictures of his new gear and listening to his new entrance music, it warranted something a little more dramatic. I typically stick to black, white, red, grey and I think it suits me. I started with the studs & they became stars. For once, I didn’t want to draw his face or expression. I couldn’t stop thinking about that feeling of venturing into the unknown. He became a galaxy.”
SofX: Who are your favorite artists in general? What artistic periods or movements resonate most with you?
PRBM: My favorite living artist is Shinsuke Nakamura, but before I learned of his existence, my favorite artist was Paul Klee. I enjoy the child-like quality of his work, and his use of color. I’ve always loved Expressionism. I have a book from when I was a child about the artwork of Der Blaue Reiter & it was a beautiful dream of shape and color. While my classmates & teachers highly valued realistic drawing ability, I learned to care only about how a drawing made me feel.
SofX: What do you think about the idea that wrestling is a “spectacle of excess”?
PRBM: A spectacle of excess. That is a very poetic way of putting it. I think it’s a fair assessment. Wrestlers are jesters or warriors. They appear in sparkly robes or neon fringe. They feed off a live audience, the energy in the air, the athleticism, sweat, blood, slapstick. It’s completely ridiculous. That’s why it’s so wonderful.
SofX: You know it’s fake, right? 😉
PRBM: The only thing fake in wrestling are those tans & them titties. Professional wrestling is very real. I’ve actually had a wrestler tell me “You know all that stuff’s fake, right?” It was at 5:30 in the morning & it peeved me. So I says, so I says to him, “yea but the 9.99 yen I spend every month for NJPW is very real”. The things I feel are real. I don’t give a dang that it’s scripted; those people work so hard to jump around in their little underwears for my enjoyment. They have to plan their match, they have to keep their bodies in good shape, they have to spend hundreds of dollars on their gear and boots, they spend a lot of time sitting around in airports, they are away from home & family. All for that glory. Performing under the hot spotlights.
About I Still Believe: “When I first started doing wrestling fan art, I would do tons of work on The Shield. That fizzled out after they broke up & now that Seth Rollins doesn’t have his bleached streak, he’s not as fun to draw. I don’t feel inspired anymore. But this piece was inspired by the cheesy wolves howling at the moon design. The Shield were the hounds of justice, so why not. I wanted it to be real dramatic. The moon was tricky to draw. My favorite bit is Seth Rollins’ gap.”
Read my series of essays about PRBM’s work here, here, here, here and here. And also go check out her prolific Tumblr archive!
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