White Trash Art: the occult

Artists Gary Farrelly and Peggy Clydesdale interview critically acclaimed Irish artist/songwriter/performer David Turpin from the churning chlorinated brew of American independence that is the Fraternal Order of the Eagles swimming pool in Dallas, Texas on July 4th, 2010.

Clydesdale Which came first, the poetry, the music or the art. And which is the dominant form?

Turpin I can’t really remember, but I think the art-form I was interested in first was probably filmmaking. I was drawn into pop music because it’s a rangy beast that also includes literature, visual art, photography, typography, and graphics. Whatever I’m doing, I like to believe that my work is dominated not by form, but by the mode of the Turpinesque.

Farrelly It is obvious that global cultural conquest is your raison d’etre. Which form will you achieve this by?

Turpin I’ve always been described as a performance artist or a conceptual artist, despite the fact that conceptual art is probably the only art form in which I have never practiced. So I expect I will achieve global conquest for a misnomer. That’s all right, though. I don’t mind what people call my work, as long as they feast on it until their bellies burst. Many is the luscious buffet that must endure the tag of “All You Can Eat”.

Farrelly When do you expect this process to be complete?

Turpin The process is an ongoing one. There will always be savages somewhere in the world who do not grasp the concept of the Turpinesque, and my life’s work is to enlighten them – forcefully.

Farrelly What are the key projects you are investing your energies in over the coming 12 months?

Turpin My plans are secret at the moment, but be assured that my dance card is full.

Farrelly Can you give me 7 key words you think best describe your aesthetic.

Turpin Turptacular. Turpnotic. Turpifying. Turpmantic. Turpincholy.

Clydesdale Olfactory sense can elicit the most vivid memories. In your experience what is the most disturbing memory that evidences itself upon a certain smell?

Turpin Well, sexual assault certainly has a musk all its own, but in the interests of maintaining the proper Sunday Colour Supplement tone, I’ll choose something from further back. Certain tobacco smells remind me of my piano teacher, who was a very brilliant man, but also a very frightening one. He smoked like an industrial chimney, and when he shouted it always burst out of him in a puff of smoke, as if he literally was a dragon. He sat behind me, so all I ever saw was the little pieces of ash that drifted down onto the keys. Maybe that’s why there’s so much incineration in my music.

Clydesdale Loss and struggle are characteristic themes of American country and western music. Your output also deals with these basic human tribulations. What would the chorus of a David Turpin country and western song (produced for the masses on this side of the Atlantic) sound like?

Turpin It will be saccharine and string-led. Kris Kristofferson will play guitar, and we’ll use his face as a skiffle board. It will have harmonies by the Parton-Harris-Ronstadt Trio, and the refrain will include the lines “I dug up those chalky bones, Theo / To dance in line like the corn we grow...”

Farrelly Do you believe in God?

Turpin Not necessarily as a benevolent force.

Farrelly Do you believe in love?

Turpin [Declines to answer]

Clydesdale In a recent correspondence you stipulated that "everything is better with a horse in it" can you please make known your favorite culinary dish improved by the inclusion of a horse. *Horseradish does not count?

Turpin I imagine the speared corpse of an enemy – dragged Hector-and-Achilles-style across the ground by a horse – would taste pretty nice.

Farrelly Your recent album Haunted was well received by the critical establishment. Are you satisfied by the wholeheartedness of their adoration of Turpin?

Turpin I wouldn’t recognize adoration if it walked up to me and punched me in the face. It’s not even on my radar.

Farrelly Where will David Turpin be in 5 years? (at least one scenario please).

Turpin On July 4, 2015, I will be the sole resident in a luxury hotel at the centre of a wood north of Bear Mountain in upstate New York. I will be in the Vermillion room, possibly reclining with my hybrid wolves, watching through the picture window as the people of the township tie themselves to fireworks and, in my honor, blast off into the night sky.

(July 4, 2010)