Meet Mux Blank | Producer and Curator at JOKERJOKERtv

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mux Blank and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mux, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
JOKERJOKERtv isn’t really a business as much as a collective of artists based out of Athens GA who all volunteer their time and work together to produce a livestreamed tv show that features independent and underground artists from around the world. On our program we spotlight musicians, filmmakers, animators, and performers to elevate these creative individuals and boost their visibility in the community. As artists ourselves we have a good handle on what these artists need… it’s attention, eyes on their works, and more fans seeking them out! In our overwhelming world of full media saturation it is very hard for artists to promote themselves and still have time to do their art.. So we make it easier by doing some of that work for them, and for free. We have built a community and cultivated an audience that’s super passionate about discovering fresh new artists and staying in the loop with what’s happening around town in Athens.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a self taught self produced artist of many different mediums and media styles! Everything from music to painting and drawing, filmmaking, and performance art… I like to express myself in many different ways.

I produce and curate JOKERJOKERtv.

I produce experimental music solo as Mr Blank, and doom-sludge metal with my band Rat Babies.

I produce short films as Numb Blink Films.

I coded my own video game called “Bad Guy Bootcamp” by teaching myself to code using youtube videos to learn C+.

I sculpt, mold, and cast my own designer art toys which have been feaured in galleries and on art toy collectors’ shelves around the world.

I lived off grid for over 7+ years in a short school bus converted into a makeshift home on wheels, a skoolie, and traveled the country performing in seedy night clubs, open mics and at punk rock DIY basement venues.

I organized troupes of vaudevillian performance artists called “Mr Blank’s Carnivale of Black Hearts” and “Mr Blank’s Weird & Wandering Sideshow” and performed sideshow stunts like the Human Blockhead, Glass Walker, Fire Breather, Human Pincushion, Rabblerouser and more.

I’m a street performer as TVHeadGuy, where I dress in a costume with a gutted TV as my head, performing with circutbent toys and noisemakers.

I’ve self published websites, zines, and collections of poetry.

I’ve organized arts and crafts events featuring outsider artists, performers, and more…

Through it all I have done my art and struggled as a starving artist no matter what, even without a job or a home I still did it, never gave up… even now I can’t pay my bills or put food on the table most of the time, and yet I am only able to live as an artist because thats all I know how to be. It’s always hard, and lonely, and many times overwhelming mentally and emotionally… I live without and work 24/7 as only an artist because it’s what drives me and gives me fullfillment, meaning, and purpose in my life!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’d start by offering them a place to stay, even if just a couch here at the JOKERJOKERtv studio where I live… We have a magical studio in an old run down house, there’s junk art trails in the woods behind our house for you to explore, and of course since we live in a artsy college town there’s plenty of things to see, experience, eat, and explore…

And if they are an artist, which most of my friends are, I’d invite them to be on our livestream tv show! or I’d invite them to collaborate on an art project… lol!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We want to shout out all those unknown indie and underground artists who struggle day to day to create art through all sorts of hardships from monitary limitations, to mental and emotional issues, to having few support systems that understand where their coming from. We purposefully focus our services on the unknown, unappreciated, and unseen… because these artists are the ones that need the help and support the most! So our shout out goes to them!

Website: http://jokerjokertv.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jokerjokertv/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jokerjokergallery

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@JOKERJOKERtvofficial

Other: Rat Babies: http://thecompleteguidetocaringforyourratbabies.com/ https://ratbabies.bandcamp.com/ https://www.instagram.com/batrabies/ https://www.facebook.com/ratbabies/ personal sites: http://mrblankisdead.com/ https://mrblank.bandcamp.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@mrblankisdead https://www.facebook.com/muxblank https://www.instagram.com/muxblank/