Why NOT Higby?

General Yo-Yo
41

I started ‘looking at colors’ when I was a little kid, about 60 years ago.

I started painting bicycles in my Dads garage about 56 years ago.

I started painting Harley motorcycles about 52 years ago.

I started painting cars, trucks, sand rails, dune buggies, horse trailers, semi trucks, speed boats and just about anything else within reach, lol.

‘Colors’ were the key factor that interested me. Individual colors, combinations of color, the sheer visual impact of how colors can inspire and captivate your mind. What colors go together and which ones don’t.

That being said, I am not an oil brush painter. I am not a pastel chalk artist. I do not airbrush murals. I don’t do colored pencil sketches. I am not any sort of ‘naturally gifted’ drawing genius.

I spent a few decades painting anything that didn’t paint me first. My specialty was color matching spot repairs on exotic cars for very particular people that pay to stay happy.

But I never formulated new colors or mapped out multi colored paint schemes for fancy custom rides.

I was simply a painting machine that never got tired of enjoying the spectrum of beautiful colors.

I said all that to tell you this>

I can respect and appreciate ‘everything’ all you guys do, that I can’t do. And there is certainly a large number of things that I can’t do.

John Higby is very high on my list of ‘Amazingly talented people’.

It is said that people should be regarded by the sum total of everything they do and have accomplished. And such is the case for John. He is such a dynamically talented person, he is unique. A Professor once told me that the highest compliment you can give a person is to identify that person as a true individual. One that doesn’t move by the same beat as the majority of others.

John does things with: themes, colors, compositions, spacial dynamics and mood, that’s truly impressive. He has a sense for balancing portions of the color spectrum in each piece he does, that works so well, it just works beyond the average level of appreciation.

You have to literally stare at his individual works until your mind ‘wraps around’ what you see. His pieces are much deeper than just glancing at them.

Kinda like a piece of chocolate. You can put it in your mouth and just chew it up in an instant. Or you can put it in your mouth and let it melt slowly, (same chocolate) for a different degree of taste sensation.

I Love Johns work because it is not only Amazing, but something well beyond my meager artistic potential.

I know the difference. John was wired by a higher life form.

He is one badd man…

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42

Beautifully worded Sir :grin: and I really appreciate getting your insight on the topic , I love where this thread has lead me and just how quickly my “closed minded” viewpoint changed from only hearing a few people’s experiences AND seeing the Stuff from Mr.Higby that wasn’t restricted to the size of a yoyo :sweat_smile:
Again I will apologize about how I came across AND the seemingly “condescending” tone of my original post , but as I said before

  • “Keep watch for the guy who performs on 1 leg with the other foot in his mouth” :joy: because I SURE am STILL having a hard time getting that foot out :rofl:
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43

If you don’t like an artist- you don’t like an artist.
I don’t like BTS and I’m not gonna change my mind if a bazillion girls cyber bully me :joy: you also won’t catch me going onto a BTS forum and saying that BTS is dumb and they all look like maneuquins.
Thats the thing about art, its personal and all different. And each person is gonna have a different emotion from it

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44

This shot with the Bromeliad is great!

1 Like
45

Honestly I have to admit that ive seen a few Higby painted yoyos that just don’t look good to me. A few of his rainbow swirl patterns just look meh to me. But a lot of his other work just looks amazing; that gnome painting for instance is something id love to put on my wall in a nice frame. Same with his painted yoyos, some are amazing, others not so much. So I can honestly see where the OP was coming from. Ive always been more of a “separate the art from the artist” kind of guy, but in the case of a guy like John it seems like his positive attitude and community contributions have contributed positively to his artistic image. Mad respect.

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46

This whole thread is just sort of sad. It is a testament to the crowd-mentality that permeates this hobby. I have been into buying and selling yo-yo for years.

I own no Higby yo-yos.

Why? For the same reasons that the OG post sighted. They are amateurish; and not attractive. That the community has convinced the OG poster that the emperor indeed has fine art; is just bullying.

Oh yeah; let the hate flow…

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47

I didn’t really see hate

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48

You are definitely entitled to your opinion, however, I disagree with your assertion of bullying. Several posts acknowledged that art is subjective. No one has the power to make anyone else like a certain artist’s work. Some of John’s art I enjoy, some doesn’t appeal to me. I can say the same about other artists, musicians, writers etc.

That said, I don’t know the OP’s age. However, I’m old enough to be considered a geezer or curmudgeon. The benefit of the years of living that lead up to adulthood is the increasing sense of being comfortable liking what I like and disliking what I don’t like, regardless of what is popular with the masses. That leads to what I like about yoyo, it has enough variety for everyone to find something that they like.

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49

Thats why I said what I said, its ok to not like some art. Its all personal… i kinda got the same feeling… But if you gonna critique someone’s art on the community forum. Maybe come at it with a little softer

51

My input: It is not exactly pretty, but it has this creative aspect. A lot of famous artists make realistic art, but realistic art is not the only thing that exists, and I actually prefer cartoonish styles of art. If I want to see hyper realistic art I can just look at a photograph. (I am definitely not saying that hyper realistic artists aren´t talented, they are).

Also that tree display that @edhaponik posted is epic.

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52

John Higby has a lot of clout in the yoyo community. I personally like his art. Not necessarily all of it but damn near all of it. To one of the OP’s comments about people being salty over the Kickstarter. John had started a Kickstarter for a children’s book called Eveybody Loves Yoyos. There was a goal of $2,000 needed to fund the book. Not surprisingly he raised like $12,000! To give you an ideal of just how loved and appreciated this man is.

Unfortunately, the book never came to pass. And that $12,000 turned into, well, basically a charitable donation. The most civil way to put it. And after a few updates stating he was trying to get things perfect with some of the people involved, with distribution perhaps, he simply stopped updating Kickstarter. So understandably some people were left feeling upset. I think especially with not bothering to reach out to the Kickstarter/ yoyo community that funded this project with any final update.

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53

Didn’t know about this. Disappointing……

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54

Kickstarter campaign for reference:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/everyoneyoyos/everybody-yo-yos-a-childrens-book-by-yo-yo-guy-joh/comments

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55

Nor did I. Beyond disappointing. :frowning:

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56

I also had ‘no’ idea about this.

Valid explanations go much further for credibility than the ‘ghosting’ option.

Not saying anything in the form of an update(in a timely manner) is not a good look.

:flushed:

9 Likes
57

Well said! The whole ghosting aspect is what makes it feel shady. I’ve found the community forgiving and patient to a fault! So i have no doubt people would have been much less upset if he would of done the right thing and communicate what happened. I think a testament to the forgiving nature of the community is the fact so few people even know what he did. That’s how little it’s spoken of, that’s how much he’s respected. That something like this could happen and it’s barely mentioned.

Oh well, just my two cents. I still think he’s a great artist.

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58

I don’t even think Heath got that much loot

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60

Oh man… what a 180 this thread has done :joy::joy::joy:

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61

Wow. Is this true?

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62

Wow squared. Kind of puts a damper on that “stalwart of the yo-yo community” thing…

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