Artist Showcase – Ed McGowin

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Ed McGowin aside from his fantastic body of work, is that he's not Ed McGowin. This Baltimore artist legally changed his name 12 times, and under each name, creating and submitting artworks to the Baltimore Museum of Arts. See, McGowin has a theory that an artist’s will to change has been denied by the repressive demand that an artist's work develop in a sequentially logical, linear progression.
I just briefly wanted to share these excerpts that I've taken from Anders Harm's article, Thoughts About Ed McGowin's project Name Change
“Apparently nowhere else does the repression of names appear as clearly as in the art world and in its history. Names are the elementary particle of subjectivization, which one attempts to press onto our bodies like seals, in order to have them “limit our entire system”, and which in turn, is interpreted as a confirmation of “authenticity” and “purity.” ”
“Each McGowin’s twelve artists are not just pseudonyms. The name changes were more a beginning rather than the final goal of the project. They merely started up the machine of desire, which, at that moment, did not know in which direction it will start to move. McGowin has referred to the linearity of art history as his basic motive for starting the project.”
Personally, I can relate on some levels. My own artistic interests are all over the map. I know that I can do this or that, but it's the very fact that I've never felt the need to progress in a linear fashion that excites me most about the future of my art. I have to agree with his theory though, and I can understand the motives for changing his name 12 times, but in modern society, who has the time to sit around waiting all day on the phone or at the office of the DMV/banks/kid's school/employer/Social Security/credit cards/etc… I've been married twice, divorced once. \Iit's a lot of work to change your name, let me tell ya!
I guess I do know some artists who have created multiple accounts and galleries on the same art site for each style of their artwork, which, if you think about it, seems to stem from the same concept and perhaps, a fear of not being taken seriously by critics who already think they've got you pegged.