Jesus Carveros is an artist living in Rye. His work takes on many forms - from spoken word and performance to appropriated found pieces to pottery, painting and sculpture. He also uses text as part of his practice. Impossible to pigeon hole, his influences include Donald Judd, Jackson Pollock, Ian Dury, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol and Malcolm McLaren.
Jesus describes himself as "a Mexican wrestler that doesn't wrestle". It's more a way of life. Most days he wears a Mexican wrestler's mask and and workman's overalls. He advocates a pared back simple existence. His work reflects his philosophy and approach to living. Far less is far more.
"Diary Entries" is a series of text-based pieces we are publishing in Rye News. We think you might find them intriguing and inspiring.
I woke up thinking.
I'm 67.
Time is running out.
There's definitely more years behind me than in front.
I won't live til I'm 134.
No one will.
Not yet.
I wouldn't want to live that long in any case.
Living til I'm 80 would be good.
Living til I'm 80 would mean I've got 13 Summers left.
13 Summers.
Mmmmm.
13 Summers.
Think about the last 13 Summers.
How quickly they've whipped past.
The next 13 Summers will fly by too.
Then that's it.
Bosh.
Cheerio.
When you consider life in this way it helps you focus.
It reminds you that every moment is important.
And precious.
Not to take anything for granted.
That every day is a gift.
We've heard all this before.
Well it's true.
It's the reason I became a Mexican wrestler.
It was a turning point.
A milestone.
A day when everything changed.
I decided to simplify my life.
To get rid of what I didn't need.
All that stuff was bogging me down.
Trapping me.
For me the less I own the more I feel free.
So I pared everything back to bare essentials.
I decided to keep what is necessary.
Nothing else.
I have a simple view on living.
I want to enjoy the passage of time.
That's it.
No more or less.
Enjoying the passage of time.
That's all there is to it.
Well that's what I think.
Luckily we're all different.
It'd be a shame if we were all the same.
And if we all agreed with each other.
The more opinions the merrier in my book.
This means the concept of enjoyment takes many forms.
Some people like fishing.
Others like playing golf.
Some people enjoy sitting around watching telly.
Others love drinking.
Or riding.
It's horses for courses.
I've made the decision not to judge people.
Everyone to their own.
It's hard not to be judgemental.
These days most people are ready and willing to criticise.
To judge.
Not me though.
I try not to have expectations.
I do my best to accept people for what they are.
After all, how they want to be is up to them.
If you don't have expectations then you won't be disappointed.
Expectations set people up to let you down.
To fail.
If you accept people then everything's fine.
You're not disappointed.
Simplifying life makes it better in my opinion.
But that's my opinion.
I've only got my opinion.
Sometimes life's hard to simplify though.
Because life is naturally complicated.
And confusing.
Keeping things simple takes a lot of effort.
It's not easy.
You have to work at it.
If you don't keep it simple life goes back to being complicated.
Then you have to make it simple again.
It's a recurring rhythm.
It ebbs and flows.
While the world goes mad around us I think its a good idea to go slow.
To keep still.
Not to worry about how long we've got left.
To enjoy the moment.
It's all we have.
