New Member: Tony Burhouse//Gene Mutation

Introduction and plenty of pictures after the jump
I hope you will stick through all this chat, but I guess you can skip to the end for the pictures.

First off, a big thank you to crippa for inviting me to a blog. Thanks also to Zeke, Alk and Gaspard for being excellent cohorts; drawing with me, printing my shit and supplying me with some sick comics, zines etc! I've followed the blog for a few years and it has introduced me to many amazing artists and so much excellent artwork so I am extremely pleased and honoured to be affiliated with the group!

My name is Tony Burhouse, I am 25 yo currently and live in Leeds, Northern England. 'Gene Mutation' started as an internet name for things like facebook, where I would generally fill out a profile with a load of nonsense, but I am using it more now for my art. I think the connotations of that name somehow reflect my approach to working and somekind of personal philosophy.

Drawing has been a big part of my life from a young age, in someways I think I use it to justify my existence, which is nonsense really but it often feels that way. I feel lucky though to have this passion for drawing, because I will always have something to keep me engaged and excited about life. As for my approach to art, I see it as closely connected to the process of dreaming which is also a major preoccupation of mine from a young age and something I studied seriously (more so than art) while I was at university doing a 'Fine Art' degree.

As for influences I am open to a ridiculous amount of things, art and otherwise and often things that oppose each other- for example I really enjoy rough, raw drawing but then I am equally turned on by really fine and technical craftmanship. Drawing in one particular style does not appeal to me, as the great fun for me is experimenting and making new styles. Some theory about artmaking that I've really gotten on with in the past are Francis Bacon's stuff about 'intention and surprise' and also William Burroughs and Brion Gysin, who I think managed to produce work that somehow makes the relationship with our reality situation more explicit.

Needless to say, I don't really get on with art that isn't dark or weird in someway- like it's not relevant to life unless it's kinda fucked. Death and fear are themes that often come about and I guess it's no coincidence that the first thing I learnt to draw with any technical ability at a young age was the human skull!

I guess it's also worth mentioning that I play in a noise/art-punk band here in Leeds and punk art and DIY ethics have a lot to do with how I roll.

Anyway, here are some pics to show what I do -

Wrong Sum- a drawing for fun that ended up in part in Alkom'X 7, all drawn in biro + some white paint marker

The Reasons are Unclear- these drawings make a lot of use of made up writing (some photos of aincient petroglyphs had a big impact on me at some point) I am involved in collaborations and such with a lot of artists/poets online that consider 'asemic writing' to be an artistic/literary movement.

This is one of the covers for my bands upcoming 7inch split with friends Amorous Dialogues

Oneiroskeletos- a bigger piece (I usually stick to photocopy paper or sketchbooks) this is about A2 size- meditation on afterlife

Bogus Sermon: The Wise Words of Worn One - a page from a comic I did some time ago and made a run of about 5 hand stitched copies

Komodo Komodo Dragon - image taken directly from a dream that I woke from in some kind of hysteria. Scanned brush and ink drawing with plenty of computer manipulation- I use computer a lot and enjoy the immediacy of experimenting with GIMP software.

Self Portrait with Terrifying Orb - the only drawing I've ever done exclusively in digital- its funny coz a lot of people seem to think I do my drawings on computer, but I can't get a clean line with my shitty graphics tablet.

experiment in consciousness manipulation- resulted in 4 nights of lucid/clear light dreams

Holy Fucking Furballs- drawing for friends music project. I don't do a lot of drawing for other people, though I do enjoy the opportunity. I find it very rewarding to take people's criteria for an image and bring my own vision to it and create something we're both happy with.

Budhiabetic Holyghoul - very occasionally I like to get my hands dirty and mess about with little buddha statues

Sightless Healer and Amphibious Meditator discuss the ins and outs of Self Immolation (Above all do not wobble) - another dream related drawing, showing my joy of elaborate titles- pencils and biro with some colour/blurring/manipulation on computer

my take on the old nazi zombie by cRIPpa!

Well that's that really. I have a lot more work on my website at www.genemutation.co.uk I realise this is a pretty extensive post, but I'll only get to introduce myself once so sod it.

I'm a very keen collaborator and love to do swaps (I have a few copies of one solo zine available at the moment). Any thoughts you have about my stuff or suggestions of artists etc for me to check out are really appreciated!

Thanks for reading and I look forward to more EDB action in the future!