About the Artist Called Toto

Toto

Who often sports rabbit ears for reasons he's never figured out

 

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• An accident (not supposed to be here)

• Born anyway in 1961

• Atlanta, Georgia

• On Linden Avenue in the same delivery room as his parents and sisters ... but not at the same time!​

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 ART OF TOTO NEWS!

DATELINE—Alpharetta, Georgia

 

Toto, as a badge of artistic honor, is super proud to announce that his art has been kicked out of Queen of Hearts Antiques & Interiors on Highway 9!

 

After the churchy ol' bean bags who run the huge consignment palace finally got around to gawking at it all, they apparently experienced palpitations and sudden skin lesions and the real big one finally exploded. The warehouse hillbillies who helped Toto load up his stuff, while smoking cigarettes, and in honor of some different kind of art (finally), called their boss biddies some unchristian words and phrases that cannot be noted on a family web site such as this! Thanks, fellas, for your support of great art!

 

 

BACK TO TOTO!

 

Anyway ... the urge for art began in 1972 when an inspired 6th grade south Cobb County, Georgia wild child entered a county-wide ecology poster painting contest.

 

And even while painting the poster, as his two (much) older sisters hovered behind him like the haruspices they still are, making fun of him, and had previously tried to murder him several times, Toto kept on, finally producing vivid, world-changing images ... of a huge sewer pipe spewing McDonald’s drink cups and doo-doo while a huge American Bald Eagle observed the scene from above, wings spread. The bird symbol of the United States of America was weeping. There was a lot of doo-doo. Above the eagle in the blue sky, a peace sign.

 

Toto won.

 

The emerging artist received a $5 savings bond from the local bank, and was driven to the award ceremony at a meat-and-three restaurant on Georgia 41 near the Big Chicken by his teacher in her Corvette, shifting like a pro, who Toto thought, in the vernacular of the seventies, was totally “foxy.” Mrs. Nix was totally foxy, and probably still is, at age 100 or more. Toto also won her 6th grade name-all-of-the human bones contest. One day, Toto asked her if she was happily married. She said she was, but Toto, already a savant social observer, noticed that she admitted it reluctantly.

 

As for the name of the artist ... Toto. A variation of “total.”

 

A total dedication to relentlessly pursuing your natural gift. And for Toto, that’s making art. For a certain dog in the artist’s life, a dedication to friendly living no matter what happens. The artist was nick-named after a damn dog … a roaming-around Austell-Smyrna-Mableton neighborhood dog who nobody owned but everyone liked and fed. And then one day, Toto happily trotted with a smile on his mug into the garage of a friend across the street where Toto and his feral friends were having boxing matches, just like the dog  did all the time. He loved to visit. The boxing matches usually followed BB gun battles in the local woods.

 

Toto the dog appeared to be just fine, even though the urchins discovered that part of his head—now sort of crusty and dried up—had been shot off, exposing a bit of Toto’s computer. Everybody patted Toto and remarked about how goddamn tough the dog was, and oblivious that he’d had part of his head shot off and now had one ear. But there Toto was—happy, as always, to see all of his Floyd Road buds. Toto and the boys never saw Toto the dog ever again after that day, but the boy Toto has always kept the dog in his thoughts for the rest of his life, especially the thoughts that feel artful, human, and dog-like, too. Never give up, in other words, even if part of your head is missing.

 

Two years of high school Latin: Ars gratia artis ... art for the sake of art. Why not?

 

Why not observe parts of the human and spiritual world and have some fun with them with garage floor sprinkles and crappy house paint from the Home Depot return rack? The former president of the Alpha Arts Guild, and a former fine arts teacher at an Atlanta area special education school, invites you to have fun with his takes on both ... in the spirit of a famous dog and another inspiration, the awesome Georgia folk artist, Howard Finster. But much, much naughtier.

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In other words, if you're looking to buy a cute "Corn Bread," this definitely ain't the place. Although Toto  admits ... he proudly owns two.