Meet WebsterX, the Milwaukee Artist With an Uncompromising Vision

[complextv contentid=”5qeDk3dDqrD_WmL2QX-eQalt8-SXjfjo” sitename=”pigeonsandplanes” playerid=”9058c2e37c8849569676a4dbd4c136b9″ adsetid=”dc233d2f882e46559cc272a77c606020″ width=”600″ height=”400″ keywords=”” autoplay=”true”]


Words and video by Sean Stout

WebsterX moves with a confidence that’s hard to measure. It’s a rare quality, making it all the easier to recognize. “Kid Cudi, man—right where he’s at, that’s where I want to be,” he tells me during one of our many conversations. “I want to be able to curate visuals, art installations, whatever…. I just want to think of it and be able to make it happen,” WebsterX (or Sam, as he introduced himself) says as he gazes past my sightline, like looking straight into that future reality.

When discussing a video we could shoot in Austin during SXSW, I threw out the idea of using a state park as a location, to take advantage of some majestic caverns. Given that the park I had in mind was an hour outside of the city, I expected a straight up no. Instead I was met with: “Oh my goodness they won’t know what hit ’em.” Next thing I knew, I was in a 15-passenger van barreling into the heart of Nowhere, Texas.

WebsterX drove 24 hours straight from his hometown of Milwaukee to Austin for SXSW, a festival known for putting young artists center stage in front of hundreds of eager music fans, only to turn around and drive another hour and a half into unfamiliar terrain to perform in a cave to an audience of five. That sort of idiosyncratic (and flexible) aesthetic vision—not at all unfamiliar to the young artist—makes you wonder whether his dream of being able to “think of it and be able to make it happen” hasn’t already come true.

latest_stories_pigeons-and-planes