David Wetzl

TAICOOco is a mythical, wisdom-based corporation, launched and existing solely within the context of these recent artworks. Accumulating and mediating aesthetic prowess, knowledge, and awareness, as opposed to abiding by the existing corporate mindset of unconsciously garnering excessive power and profit, is the primary motive and mission of TAICOOco..

Examining common allures and egoistic desires, traveling crooked and meandering roads that link mind and body, as well as mapping paths that exist well below and beyond the mundane or conventional ego, has been a longtime conceptual preoccupation of both the original founders of TAICOOco.. Begun in 2004 by the fledgling West Coast painter David Wetzl and his alter-ego/muse and transpersonal trail guide, S.C.I.P.

(Still Image and Content Provider). Both were demoted in order to take part in this noble effort: S.C.I.P. descended from his lofty perch as the transpersonally aclaimed demigod to become the CEO at TAICOOco.; Wetzl now provides low-level research and development analysis for the company.

The “Drift of Eros” characterizes the fundamental mindset that drives production at TAICOOco.. This concept could be described as follows: that the simple awareness or notion to access and ride the ever- flowing waves and tides of psychic potential is the successful post-corporate evolutionary path. On a personal note, S.C.I.P. felt that Wetzl was vacillating and wallowing in an elevated pool of postmodern pleasantries, and slowly succumbing to its nihilistic, narcissistic, and egalitarian tendencies. This simple statement “I can take you to a yellow and turquoise sunset” urged Wetzl to take the bait and join forces with SC.I.P. to embark on this integral joint venture.

A shift in color usage was the first order of business. TAICOOco adopted the eight-banded color-coded system used to represent the eight stages or levels of consciousness as defined within the field of developmental psychology. This newly adopted spectrum ordered from low to high as follows: beige, purple, red, blue, orange, green, yellow, turquoise. Each color signifies a major level or shift in human development. For example, blue signifies the ancient mind that created the major western religions; orange stands for Modernism, Capitalism, and/or the Enlightenment; green exemplifies Postmodernism or the new global consciousness, etc.

TAICOOco. firmly believes that the art world is being pulled apart at two distinct poles, one aesthetic and the other conceptual. TAICOOco. views pure aesthetes/formalists and conversely conceptualists as being necessary players that are both beautiful and noble. Beauty is emotionally powerful but limited in every other way. Conceptualism has taken over the Formalists prior position as the didactic dominator. The slogan on the executive locker room at TAICOOco. reads as follows: “A work of art is not a work of art unless it integrally employs both, or preferably, all.”