Chow Mwng – Stop Feeding Me Emoji

I am a massive fan of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia; it is quite simply, one of the funniest shows I have ever watched. It is one of those rare beasts that actually gets better and better with age, as the characters Dee, Charlie, Mac, Dennis, and Frank descend further and further into madness – those funny quirks that made you giggle in Season 1 become full blown personality disorders by Season 12. In one particularly funny episode, the gang explore the art world, trying to prove once and for all that modern art is meaningless after a trip to an art gallery leaves them wondering if anything can be art. In the closing minutes of the show they try to sum it all up like this:

“When is stuff art?”

“Uh, hey, guys, guys, um, if I may, I think I can sum this all up. You see, art is an ambiguous thing, yeah?

“Yeah, just because you make some art, it doesn’t mean that you’re an artist. But, also, it does mean you’re an artist.”

“But does it mean that that art is good art? Is art good just because the right people say it’s good? Yes.”

“Yes.”

Nobody really knows what art is. Is art anything produced by an ‘artist’? If Damien Hirst screwed up a receipt and left it on a coffee table, is that art? What about intent? Is that why Tracy Emin’s ‘My bed’ is considered a work of art but my messy bedroom isn’t? Is it the space the ‘art’ is contained in? The short answer to all of this, is that there is no answer. Nobody can really define what art is, not even highly paid art critics or museum curators. Similarly, nobody can really define what ‘music’ is, something which is highlighted by Welsh experimental noise artist Ash Cooke, AKA Chow Mwng, who believes that all sound has the potential to become music. In his latest album ‘ULOT-CA‘, Cooke utilises field recordings ranging from children footsteps down a corridor to the sound of a whisk tapping against a bowl to create highly textural soundscapes, which when combined with his tongue in cheek spoken word, form cerebral pop songs. Particularly good is ‘Stop Feeding Me Emoji’, which combines that Northern Welsh wit with clanging guitar feedback to create an utterly jarring piece of music. Love it or hate it, Chow Mwng is the kind of artist who will certainly set tongues wagging with his completely unique version of art. Enjoy.