Category: Video

WHO’S OFFENDED (2025)

WHO’S OFFENDED SOLO ART SHOW (2025)

 

Base Camp 2  Seattle  July 11-Aug 22

 

 

New works. Mixed media and performance. Huge works on paper, vinyl collage, ceramic sculpture, film, cardboard sculpture. 

 

 

 

Artist statement on exhibition:

As a young child (probably 6 or 7) I remember thinking to myself that the world we are born into was damn shitty. I was surprised that the “grownups” would seemingly do so little to ensure each and everyone had what they needed to live and be happy. Growing up poor, these inequalities were all the more obvious as they would be confronted by myself or family on a daily basis. This exhibition is framed in the voice of the underserved, overlooked and the forgotten. This collection of statements stand as truths–factual alongside emotional responses–they may not be ones you want to hear or think about, but they are at the root of rot in this country and across our planet. 

 

 

Link to virtual tour of the exhibition.

 

 

The content of this show centers on police violence, bigotry, lack of concern for human life, greed, corruption, incarceration, and the glorification of war, amongst feelings of distress, frustration, and injustice. Who’s Offended might not be suitable for sensitive audiences (language) parental discretion is advised. 

 

 

The artwork was generated with the aim of recycling as much old materials as possible. Scrap adhesive vinyl, latex paint, cardboard, all repurposed into the works displayed. The space to create this work over the course of two years was donated: thank you to Punk Rock Flea Market, Nii Modo, The Bemis Building, Cannonball Arts, The Muckleshoot Tribe, Degenerate Art Ensemble, and of course Base Camp 2 for providing the space for the exhibition.

The works on paper come from years of creating messages for the street and public consumption. It is the artist’s intention to invite anyone who has access to offer up locations for these paper works to be placed out in the streets. Got a spot you want to see this work, it could be a wall, or a building, or inside a warehouse, or on a bus, or in your living room. Reach out and start a conversation: ezramdickinson@gmail.com

 

 

For the opening of the show an evening of entertainment was curated by Ezra featuring spoken word by Nahaan, performance duet by Donald Byrd and Ezra Dickinson, the band Seize the Means played a set, and DJ WIZDUM was the sandwich of the evening providing revolutionary sounds for the start, inbetweens and to close down the night. To end the exhibition DJ WIZDUM came through again to provide an evening of sounds to dance the show to a close.

   

 

Throughout the show every Friday at 3pm, there was a live and open to the public reading conducted by Ezra, of the typewriter submissions. The typewriter submissions were an interactive element of WHO’S OFFENDED, show attendees were prompted to interact though the portal of a manual typewriter. Prompts for submission were provided in the form of three categories, Requests for Apology, Sharing of a Confession, or Open Share. This anonymous interactive offering was aimed to provide the gallery goer a chance to express anything that might arise while viewing the show, or share something that might have been weighing on the mind of the attendee related or unrelated. This element offered a path to both feel in a tactile sense via the typewriter the feeling of capturing one’s thoughts and further to give the participant a way to add to the textual fabric of the exhibition. All readings were filmed and will be compiled into a short film for viewing, link coming soon.

 

 

 

SUPPORT MORE WORK LIKE THIS!

 



Atomic Bong (2024)

Correspondents Music video (2024)

 

It’s easy when working with friends. While it might have taken us a bit longer to get this going then we expected, Doug Arney and I created another wild music video for the Correspondents. I truly appreciate collaboration with friends, there is an earned trust that we draw from knowing that having fun is the biggest priority. Ideas grow and transform freely, our expectations are happily met and creativity takes us on a journey. Please take a look at our new creation and ask yourself, what is the story being told here?

 

 

 

Past Correspondents videos:

Drinking with Destructo

Manifest Destinys Child



FREE THE YOUTH (2023)

(2023) cardboard sculpture, performance and film

 

Let me preface this by saying, youth incarceration is a mistake made by a society that has lost its ability to properly care for its youngest citizens. In my experience American incarceration aims at nothing more than to punish, no real path to rehabilitation is ever encouraged, only creating comradery between those who have similar convictions sharing how to be a better criminal upon release. I’m pretty skeptical generally of locking anyone in a box and keeping them there, its even more obvious that locking a child in a box is just another form of torture. A trauma that we as a country continue to live through the results of on a daily basis. I constructed these 88” tall, 24” wide, 10” deep cardboard letters. Made entirely from recycled cardboard, wood glue, and recycled paint. The Degenerate Art Ensemble gave me space to construct March of 2023. I then organized a small parade to transport the letters to a new space provided by Nii Modo where they could be painted. Over the next three months the letters received a paint job, and the final parade was organized and executed. Involving the community in the paradeing of these letters to their final resting location outside the youth detention center in Seattle was a very satisfying conclusion to this journey. The final stage of the parade was attended by a writer (Claude Souvenir) capturing the reactions of the public to our FREE THE YOUTH walk.

 

Notes on a Procession. By Claude Souvenir

 

Concept, build, and direction by Ezra Dickinson

Sound Composed by WIZDUMB

Edited by Doug Arney

This project made possible with support from Degenerate Art Ensemble, Punk Rock Flea Market/NII MODO, Benjamin, Anthony, Dani, Nahaan, Maia, Hannah, Jodi, Paul, Aubry, Kristen, VK, Mandy, Cash, Shawn, Kaleb, Mallory, Jeffery, Victoria, Daniel, and Alison.

 

 

Photo: Anthony Rigano

Photo: Anthony Rigano

Photo: Anthony Rigano

State of emergence (2021) film

(2021) film 

STATE OF EMERGENCE VIDEO
This is a short film created by Austin Wilson, produced with Overall Creative during the summer of 2020. Features John Richards, Kathleen Warren and the creation of murals by Barry Johnson and Ezra Dickinson. It is a look at the thoughts and messages behind the works, during the summer when everything was boarded up and artists began to paint in the streets.
Additionally works shown by Amaris O. Hamer, Vivid Matter Collective, Paulina Cholewinski, Crystal Barbre, Casey Weldon, Zach Rockstad, Anne Siems, Baso Fibonacci, Zach Takasawa, Robert Tardiff, Connor McPherson, Evann Strathern, Billie Avery. Music by the Polyrhythmics.

 

 

Photos Austin Wilson

Wish you were here (2020)

(2020) Live stream performance. Art Martyrs Relief Society, Seattle WA.

 

Collaboration between myself and Dani Blackwell. Focusing in on the body, specifically the torso to show fleshy articulation until exhaustion, then the face to remember self, still thinking of flesh as Dani paints the face to look like a skeleton remembering the bones that are underneath providing the structure, then the self is released by throwing handfuls of flowers into the sky.

 

Body hands      Chest squish          Face paint

Foreign and Familiar (2019) film

(2019) video

 

Filmed for the Georgetown Super 8 Film Festival. Brad Curren and I came up with a loose story idea set in the defunct rail yards of Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. Sourcing my dinosaur mask as a way to look into abstract representation in hopes of finding further meaning in the story of the dinosaur mask. A small world is born of forgotten things left to collect dust.

 

SODO Express (2019-20) film

(2019-2020) short film

 

I’m always looking to find new paths and new collaborators. In my random surfing of Instagram one day I stumbled upon black and white photography of graffiti taken in Seattle that caught my eye. I looked at the bio on the profile and in short, it said that the photographer was in the beginning stages of making a film about family troubles and mental health. I felt compelled to reach out as I could see there were multiple areas of shared interest between the two of us. This is how Shaz and I first met. I soon realised that Shaz was married to a woman who was the sister of a guy I spent my childhood into teenage years dancing with at ballet school.

SODO EXPRESS SHORT FILM

 

It didn’t take long for Shaz and I to get deep into this film he was thinking about. Our conversations started to reshape the seed ideas for Shaz, and before too long he had asked me if I would like to star in his film. A new direction had emerged, of following a street artist trying to achieve fame and getting overtaken by the demons of social media addiction. This collaboration was really easy, Shaz and I both layed out what we wanted and needed. I let Shaz know when I was going to be putting art up in the streets, both my own or for friends, so he could come with and get the footage. We started talking about wanted locations and Shaz story boarded out the shots he wanted to collect. Step by step we checked off our shot list, and just a few months before covid exploded on the world we completed filming.

 

I’m only beginning to realise that Shaz has a long and full collaborative history with many very talented artists. This is where our film SODO Express gets really interesting and exciting. Since we finished filming Shaz has been updating me on all the artists involved in the post production, animation, editing, music, design, all folks who I have never met. The little bits I have seen of these artists’ works have been very encouraging to say the least. We now have a completed short film, SODO Express has been accepted to screen at festivals around the world, and we are laying the groundwork for future gallery shows and film screenings in multiple countries.

 

All in all I have both made a new friend in Shaz and found a new collaborator who I know will be cooking up ideas for the both of us long into the future. 

 

Drinking with destructo (2018)

(2018) video

 

My second music video for the Seattle band the Corespondents. I have a long standing collaboration with band member Douglas Arney. Working together we came up with the concept for this video. Shot in one day in an abandoned bowling alley. This video plays with time as we progress through a chaotic environment of play and destruction.

 

 

Rent Control (2017) film

(2017) video, with New Mystics collective

 

Collaboration between Wizdumb (beats/rhymes), DK Pan (video/editing), No Touching Ground (helping hands) and myself. The location and color choice of this poster aimed to confuse viewers into thinking this was an officially sanctioned message provided by 7/11 management.

 

Photo DK Pan

Listen (2015) film

(2015) Short film (Related project with Mother Film and Performance) 

 

Listen is meant to show the feeling of isolation that can be felt when dealing with a loved one’s mental illness. 
Listen is part of an ongoing investigation in creating work for my schizophrenic mother. Footage from Listen has been meshed with footage from the 2013 performance Mother for you I made this.

 

Collaborators credits:
Filmed by Ryan Adams, Jacob Rosen and Doug Arney. 
Sound by Paurl Walsh. 
Edited by Doug Arney. 
Concept and performance by Ezra Dickinson. 

 

Screenings:
(2016) Film Installation in exhibition The Incredible Intensity of Just Being Human. ArtEast, Issaquah WA.
(2015) Film Installation. The Incredible Intensity of Just Being Human exhibition, City Hall, Seattle WA (premiere)