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.
Image Credits: Roderick Field .
An amazing artist and a man with words of wisdom
I met Jesus quite a few years ago. He was travelling around South America, dressed very much as he’s dressed now, then he was advocating a simple life surviving only on berries and nuts and sleeping under the trees, even though the climate was quite testing, I’ve learnt a lot from him, he has changed my life for the better.
I knew Jesus when he lived above his Mum and Dad’s fish and chip shop in Dulwich Village. He was always bright as a button; a lovely little fella – wise beyond his years , even back then.
Oh Jesus! Need your wise owl words xxx
We have a lot to learn from this man. Wise beyond his years. Brilliant mind and beautiful in appearance. The planet is a better place for having him
Does he have more than one mask, I wonder. Thinking of the basics. Simple comfort and hygiene. Especially given the heat.
J C as I know him is a renaissance man, the mask cannot hide his many talents, but as a master of illusion and well versed in the dark arts of the advertising business it might be good advice to not fall completely into his hall of mirrors but you’ve got to love his stchick!
When I reach retirement age, I’m going to fill my days dressed up as a Native American chief, call myself “Prancing Bear” and build sand sculpture totem poles adorned with seashells and driftwood on Camber beach every Thursday morning. I will advocate everyone drives a classic Porsche roadster and smokes cigars in preference to a pared back simple existence!
Hello everyone …. I loved this article and the message behind it. I also happen to know the gentleman who is this magical Jesus character … I have known him for over 50 years he he’s probably my best friend … all I can say is that this young man that you see here has a genius streak inside him and he has done many amazing things in the past 50 years especially in the world of creativity are truly admire him for what he has achieved however like a lot of geniuses, he is not always an easy man but I do love him …. His message is generally about the time we have left on this planet when we get a little bit older when we hit our late 60s in age
It’s at this time that we stopped question who we are what we have done what we have achieved and in a little time left but we’re still going to try and do
Do you want to leave a legacy? Most of us in life worry about what other people think of us when we get older the truth is we soon find out that no one is thinking about us at all nearly everyone is thinking about themselves
so don’t worry about what people think about you just follow your dreams and be courageous.
When you interview some of the oldest people about their lives and their regrets most people say I wish I had been more courageous and said what I thought … I was too worried about what people might think of me
Therefor .. I wish I had been the person I truly want to be and now it’s too late. I’m too old and I’m in a nursing home or a residential home.
My chances of my dreams have gone
There are so many dreams I wanted to achieve, but I just was not brave enough to stand up
And be who I really wanted to be … I know when I go up to heaven I will look down and think why on earth was I not courageous enough to stand up and say what I think
Why was I so ashamed of being who I really am? Why did I not follow my dreams?
I’m sure a lot of you might understand what I’m vaguely talking about here and that is a little bit about what the message of this wonderful character Jesus the wrestler is talking about
If I’ve got this slightly wrong, I do apologise
All I can say, if you read this and you have a dream, what do you want people to say about you at your funeral? It’s fine if they just say he was a really nice guy and we really loved him and we will miss him or her.
Or maybe he would like them to say oh crikey she or rather him stood up for what they stand for and made such a difference with their incredible movement they created although they designed something but no one thought they could do
It’s often the Crazy ones the ones with the world thoughts the cultural provocative is the site ghosts the ones that do the things that seem so crazy and so nutty but actually make a difference and change the world for the better
They are the crazy ones, … I just like to think this wonderful character and I do hope I can have a cup of tea with him soon D
It takes all sorts….
Jesus please write your Rye story someday.