WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.040 So imagine, if you will, a Venn diagram. We've 00:00:04.040 --> 00:00:06.360 got a really fascinating deep dive for you today. 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:08.439 We really do. And I want you to just picture 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:10.599 this Venn diagram. It's a pretty standard way 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:12.259 to organize the world, right? Yeah, totally. 00:00:12.560 --> 00:00:15.759 So in one circle, over on the left, you have 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:20.160 the world of highbrow, serious, modern art. You 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:22.339 know, abstract sculptures, those hushed galleries, 00:00:22.780 --> 00:00:25.780 critics and turtlenecks, very expensive wine. 00:00:25.859 --> 00:00:27.600 Right. The sort of world where everything is 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:30.079 just very significant and very serious. Exactly. 00:00:30.260 --> 00:00:32.890 And then. In a second circle, let's put stage 00:00:32.890 --> 00:00:36.450 magic, but not the slick Las Vegas stuff. Right. 00:00:36.590 --> 00:00:39.469 I'm talking about the carnival sideshow buzz 00:00:39.469 --> 00:00:42.170 saws, headless women, illusions that are a little 00:00:42.170 --> 00:00:43.909 bit gritty and maybe a little bit dangerous. 00:00:44.070 --> 00:00:46.090 Which is a completely different vibe. That is 00:00:46.090 --> 00:00:48.630 all about spectacle and visceral thrills. Right. 00:00:48.689 --> 00:00:52.020 And then let's just. Add a third circle way out 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:55.100 in the fringes. Cryptozoology. Oh, boy. Yeah. 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:58.039 The active hunting of sea monsters, lake beasts, 00:00:58.179 --> 00:01:00.179 things that go bump in the night. Usually those 00:01:00.179 --> 00:01:02.219 three circles are miles apart. I mean, they do 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:04.739 not touch. No. In fact, people in the art world 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:07.980 usually look down on the magic world and, well, 00:01:08.099 --> 00:01:10.019 everyone looks sideways at the monster hunters. 00:01:10.180 --> 00:01:13.250 Usually, yes. But today we are diving into the 00:01:13.250 --> 00:01:15.670 life of a man who didn't just live where those 00:01:15.670 --> 00:01:18.409 circles overlap. He essentially built a house 00:01:18.409 --> 00:01:21.750 there, painted it bright colors and invited the 00:01:21.750 --> 00:01:24.670 world to come watch. Yeah. We're talking about 00:01:24.670 --> 00:01:28.579 Tony Doc Shields. A man who is. Frankly, one 00:01:28.579 --> 00:01:30.579 of the most difficult figures of the 20th century 00:01:30.579 --> 00:01:33.280 to categorize. For sure. Was he a gifted painter, 00:01:33.500 --> 00:01:37.260 a master magician, a monster hunter, or was he 00:01:37.260 --> 00:01:39.760 perhaps the greatest hoaxer Britain has ever 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:42.480 produced? Or maybe. And this is the angle I really 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:44.459 want us to chew on today. Maybe the hoax was 00:01:44.459 --> 00:01:47.180 actually the art itself. And that is the core 00:01:47.180 --> 00:01:49.099 question. We've gone through a ton of sources 00:01:49.099 --> 00:01:51.659 for you. Biographical records, art history archives, 00:01:51.980 --> 00:01:54.040 magic journals, and newspaper clipping. Banning 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:56.079 his whole life, right? Exactly. Covering his 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:58.579 life from his birth in 1938 all the way to his 00:01:58.579 --> 00:02:02.500 passing just recently in July 2024. And our mission 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:06.120 for this deep dive is to figure out how a guy 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:09.240 goes from hanging out with serious abstract artists 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:11.819 in St. Ives -like, people who are in history 00:02:11.819 --> 00:02:15.620 books, to invoking sea monsters with a coven 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:18.840 of nude witches on the coast of Cornwall. It 00:02:18.840 --> 00:02:20.840 is a trajectory that sounds totally made up, 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:23.360 but I assure you it is all in the record. So 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:25.560 let's start at the beginning, because for a guy 00:02:25.560 --> 00:02:27.939 who became known as the Wizard of the West, he 00:02:27.939 --> 00:02:30.349 didn't start out... pulling rabbits out of hats. 00:02:30.629 --> 00:02:33.189 No, he didn't. He started in a very different, 00:02:33.289 --> 00:02:35.990 very serious scene. He did. And to understand 00:02:35.990 --> 00:02:38.090 the monster years, you really have to respect 00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:41.050 the art years. We're talking about the late 1950s. 00:02:41.050 --> 00:02:43.969 Okay. Tony Shields is a young man born in Salford 00:02:43.969 --> 00:02:47.250 in 1938, but he heads to London to study at the 00:02:47.250 --> 00:02:49.270 Heather Lee School of Fine Art. Which is a legitimate 00:02:49.270 --> 00:02:51.389 institution. I mean, this isn't a hobbyist painting 00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:53.789 class at the local community center. Far from 00:02:53.789 --> 00:02:56.050 it. Yeah. And he also did a stint at the Academy 00:02:56.050 --> 00:02:58.879 André Lote in Paris. So he was... classically 00:02:58.879 --> 00:03:01.180 trained. Wow. But the real turning point, the 00:03:01.180 --> 00:03:03.020 moment where he plugs into the cultural mains 00:03:03.020 --> 00:03:07.560 is 1958. He moves to St. Ives in Cornwall. Now, 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:11.360 we need to pause here because the context of 00:03:11.360 --> 00:03:15.960 St. Ives in the late 50s is crucial. Yeah, for 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:18.259 you listening who maybe aren't art history buffs. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:22.099 Why does that location matter? Isn't it just 00:03:22.099 --> 00:03:24.080 a nice fishing village? It is a nice fishing 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:27.020 village. But at that specific moment, it was 00:03:27.020 --> 00:03:29.659 arguably the epicenter of British modern art. 00:03:29.840 --> 00:03:31.939 Oh, really? Yeah, it was where the heavy hitters 00:03:31.939 --> 00:03:34.300 were. You had Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, 00:03:34.500 --> 00:03:37.120 Patrick Herron. They were redefining what art 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:39.080 looked like. Moving away from traditional stuff. 00:03:39.360 --> 00:03:41.479 Exactly. Moving away from landscapes and into 00:03:41.479 --> 00:03:44.039 pure abstraction. It was just a hotbed of radical 00:03:44.039 --> 00:03:46.539 creativity. So Shields moves there, and he's 00:03:46.539 --> 00:03:48.740 not just watching from the sidelines. Like, he's 00:03:48.740 --> 00:03:51.539 not just a fanboy. No. He is in the trenches. 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:54.159 He ran the Steps Gallery, which was known for 00:03:54.159 --> 00:03:56.620 being incredibly progressive. Okay. He was showing 00:03:56.620 --> 00:03:59.780 artists like Brian Wall and Bob Law names that 00:03:59.780 --> 00:04:01.659 really matter in the abstract movement. Right. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.520 But here is the nugget from the research that 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:07.879 really establishes his bona fides. It's the Penwith 00:04:07.879 --> 00:04:10.139 Society of Arts. And this was the governing body 00:04:10.139 --> 00:04:12.460 of the scene there. Essentially, yes. It was 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:14.520 an incredibly influential, somewhat exclusive 00:04:14.520 --> 00:04:18.709 group. And in 1961, there was a major internal 00:04:18.709 --> 00:04:21.089 conflict. Like a clash between the traditionalists 00:04:21.089 --> 00:04:23.029 and the modernists. Exactly. And the legendary 00:04:23.029 --> 00:04:25.730 sculptor Barbara Hepworth resigned from the committee. 00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:28.610 Man, that is a seismic shift in that little world. 00:04:28.689 --> 00:04:31.610 I mean, she was a titan. Huge. And who was elected 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:34.250 to the committee following the resignation of 00:04:34.250 --> 00:04:36.189 one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century? 00:04:36.350 --> 00:04:38.689 Don't tell me it was Shields. It was Tony Shields. 00:04:38.709 --> 00:04:41.290 That is wild. That's like, I don't know, finding 00:04:41.290 --> 00:04:43.750 out that a famous ghost hunter used to sit on 00:04:43.750 --> 00:04:46.839 the board. Of the Tate Modern or the MoMA. It 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:49.639 really is. Yeah. He had solo exhibitions in London, 00:04:49.779 --> 00:04:52.259 mainly at the Rowinsky Gallery off Carnaby Street. 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:55.839 He was a recognized, serious figure in the abstract 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:59.040 art world. So he really knew his stuff. He understood 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:02.019 composition. He understood color. But more importantly, 00:05:02.139 --> 00:05:04.939 he understood perception. And framing, which... 00:05:05.269 --> 00:05:08.230 In the art world, how you frame the work often 00:05:08.230 --> 00:05:10.569 dictates how the audience receives it. Yes. Like 00:05:10.569 --> 00:05:12.990 if you put a urinal in a gallery, it's art. If 00:05:12.990 --> 00:05:15.310 you leave it in a bathroom, it's plumbing. Precisely. 00:05:15.589 --> 00:05:18.209 And you need to keep that in mind. Because in 00:05:18.209 --> 00:05:22.149 the late 1960s, he leaves St. Ives. He moves 00:05:22.149 --> 00:05:24.550 on. He moves to a place called Ponsonuth near 00:05:24.550 --> 00:05:28.050 Felmouth. And something shifts. He rediscovers 00:05:28.050 --> 00:05:31.970 a family tradition. Magic. Stage magic. Apparently, 00:05:31.970 --> 00:05:33.670 he learned it from his father and grandfather. 00:05:34.860 --> 00:05:37.279 But because Shields was an intellectual and artist, 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:40.180 he didn't just buy a magic kit from a toy store. 00:05:40.339 --> 00:05:42.819 Right. He wouldn't do anything halfway. No. He 00:05:42.819 --> 00:05:45.139 dove into the theory of magic. Yeah. I noticed 00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:46.939 in the notes he started writing for publications 00:05:46.939 --> 00:05:49.660 with names like The Linking Ring and The Budget. 00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:52.500 Those are trade journals. The Budget is the magazine 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:54.439 for the International Brotherhood of Magicians. 00:05:54.519 --> 00:05:57.240 It's real inside baseball. Wow. He wasn't writing 00:05:57.240 --> 00:05:59.240 about how to do card tricks for kids' parties. 00:05:59.399 --> 00:06:01.579 He was writing about the psychology of the impossible. 00:06:02.170 --> 00:06:04.129 And he was networking with some really surprising 00:06:04.129 --> 00:06:07.410 people. I saw the names Ray Harryhausen and Ray 00:06:07.410 --> 00:06:10.050 Bradbury in the source material. Yes, those exact 00:06:10.050 --> 00:06:12.569 names. I mean, Ray Harryhausen is the stop -motion 00:06:12.569 --> 00:06:15.930 god. Clash of the Titans, Jason and the Argonauts. 00:06:15.930 --> 00:06:18.310 Why is Shields talking to him? Well, think about 00:06:18.310 --> 00:06:21.970 what Harryhausen did. He created monsters that 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:24.430 looked real enough to suspend disbelief on a 00:06:24.430 --> 00:06:27.750 movie screen. Ah. Shields was interested in doing 00:06:27.750 --> 00:06:30.329 the same thing, but in three -dimensional reality. 00:06:30.790 --> 00:06:33.300 Yeah. They were corresponding about fantasy, 00:06:33.540 --> 00:06:36.199 about how to evoke wonder. So he's blending this 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:38.360 high art background with the mechanics of illusion. 00:06:38.740 --> 00:06:42.259 Exactly. And he helps pioneer a specific subgenre 00:06:42.259 --> 00:06:45.459 called bizarre magic. We should define that for 00:06:45.459 --> 00:06:47.980 you listening. How is bizarre magic different 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:52.000 from, say, David Copperfield or a guy in a tuxedo 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:54.600 with a dove? Great question. Traditional magic 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:57.100 is often about skill or puzzles. You know, look 00:06:57.100 --> 00:06:59.199 how fast my hands are. Look how I fooled you. 00:06:59.220 --> 00:07:00.899 Figure out how I did it. Right. Bizarre magic 00:07:00.899 --> 00:07:04.019 is about story. It's often darker, rooted in 00:07:04.019 --> 00:07:06.899 folklore, the occult, or the supernatural. It's 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:09.480 theatrical. Very theatrical. It relies on atmosphere 00:07:09.480 --> 00:07:11.839 more than just sleight of hand. It wants you 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.180 to feel a chill, not just solve a puzzle. And 00:07:14.180 --> 00:07:16.160 Shields literally wrote the book on this. Several, 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:18.079 actually. He published a trio of books. Yeah. 00:07:18.220 --> 00:07:21.339 13 Something Strange and Demons, Darklings, and 00:07:21.339 --> 00:07:23.819 Doppelgangers. Just note those titles. He's really 00:07:23.819 --> 00:07:26.319 leaning into the Gothic. Absolutely. So he takes 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:30.120 this theory and creates a persona. Enter Doc 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:33.279 Shields, Wizard of the West. Right. This is the 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:38.199 early 70s. 1970 to 1974. He hits the festival 00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:40.620 circuit. And again, this isn't a slick act. This 00:07:40.620 --> 00:07:43.600 is street theater. It's rugged. It's folk horror. 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:46.920 So he's out in the elements. Yeah, he's performing 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.620 at fairs all over Cornwall with his family and 00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:52.149 a friend named Vernon Rose. What kind of tricks 00:07:52.149 --> 00:07:55.129 are we talking about here? Visceral ones. The 00:07:55.129 --> 00:07:57.649 headless woman illusion. The sub -trunk escape. 00:07:58.170 --> 00:08:00.370 The buzzsaw? Okay, the buzzsaw is a classic, 00:08:00.430 --> 00:08:03.069 but doing it in a field in Cornwall in the 70s 00:08:03.069 --> 00:08:05.149 feels very different than doing it on a nice, 00:08:05.189 --> 00:08:07.930 clean stage. Completely different vibe. He even 00:08:07.930 --> 00:08:10.009 set up something called Tom Fool's Theater of 00:08:10.009 --> 00:08:12.790 Tomfoolery, which works closely with the Footsparn 00:08:12.790 --> 00:08:14.990 Theater. Oh, they were a very famous traveling 00:08:14.990 --> 00:08:17.110 troupe, right? They were. He was taking magic 00:08:17.110 --> 00:08:18.949 out of the parlor and putting it back into the 00:08:18.949 --> 00:08:21.129 landscape. Okay, so we have the artist and we 00:08:21.129 --> 00:08:22.949 have the wizard, but this is where the timeline 00:08:22.949 --> 00:08:25.209 gets really interesting. It really does. Because 00:08:25.209 --> 00:08:26.610 this is the part of the story that most people 00:08:26.610 --> 00:08:28.519 might actually remember. even if they don't know 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:32.440 Shields' name. The monster years. The mid -1970s. 00:08:32.440 --> 00:08:34.399 This is where the training wheels just come entirely 00:08:34.399 --> 00:08:36.759 off. Right. Up until now, everything he's done 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:39.019 is performance. Everyone knows a magic show is 00:08:39.019 --> 00:08:41.279 a trick. Even if it's scary, you know it's a 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:44.820 show. Right. But in 1976, he decides that performing 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:47.419 tricks isn't enough. He wants to change reality. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:51.139 He decides to raise monsters. Specifically, more 00:08:51.139 --> 00:08:54.019 gore. And that's the Cornish sea monster. Correct. 00:08:54.549 --> 00:08:59.110 Morgar means sea giant in Cornish. Now, typically 00:08:59.110 --> 00:09:02.509 cryptozoologists are guys in khaki vests with 00:09:02.509 --> 00:09:04.789 binoculars and sonar equipment. Right, trying 00:09:04.789 --> 00:09:07.190 to prove a biological species exists. Yeah, they 00:09:07.190 --> 00:09:09.950 want peer review. Shields, well, he took a very 00:09:09.950 --> 00:09:12.090 different approach. He used witches. He used 00:09:12.090 --> 00:09:14.269 witches. The sources are very specific here. 00:09:14.389 --> 00:09:16.789 He claimed to invoke the monster with the aid 00:09:16.789 --> 00:09:20.269 of a coven of nude witches. Now... I have to 00:09:20.269 --> 00:09:22.370 play the skeptic here for a second. If you actually 00:09:22.370 --> 00:09:25.850 want to find a rare, shy, aquatic animal, getting 00:09:25.850 --> 00:09:28.129 a bunch of people to chant naked on a cliff seems, 00:09:28.350 --> 00:09:30.809 I don't know, counterproductive. Scientifically? 00:09:31.090 --> 00:09:33.750 Yes. Theatrically. It's genius. That's true. 00:09:33.850 --> 00:09:37.590 You have to remember the era. The mid -70s. You 00:09:37.590 --> 00:09:39.830 have the obsession with the wicker man, the occult 00:09:39.830 --> 00:09:42.289 revival, the tail end of the hippie movement. 00:09:42.590 --> 00:09:44.909 Yeah, the cultural backdrop is perfect for it. 00:09:45.049 --> 00:09:47.029 Shields wasn't trying to write a paper for nature. 00:09:47.250 --> 00:09:50.720 He was creating a scene. He was creating a vibe. 00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:53.360 And the media just ate it up. They gorged on 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:56.919 it. We're talking BBC TV, 14 Times, local papers. 00:09:57.179 --> 00:09:59.419 And the tabloids, right? Oh, yeah. The National 00:09:59.419 --> 00:10:02.159 Tabloids Reveille, the News of the World. They 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:05.059 were running stories on Doc Shields and his monsters. 00:10:05.399 --> 00:10:08.399 I mean, it's the perfect tabloid fodder. Nudity, 00:10:08.460 --> 00:10:10.639 monsters, and a wizard. It hits every single 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:13.779 button. Exactly. He was populating Cornwall with 00:10:13.779 --> 00:10:16.710 cryptids. Around this same time, he also reported 00:10:16.710 --> 00:10:20.230 on the Owlman of Monon. Which was a winged humanoid 00:10:20.230 --> 00:10:22.409 scene near a church tower, right? That's the 00:10:22.409 --> 00:10:24.590 one. He's just building a mythology in real time, 00:10:24.649 --> 00:10:27.750 but he didn't stop at Cornwall. In 1977, he went 00:10:27.750 --> 00:10:29.870 for the championship belt. He did. The Loch Ness 00:10:29.870 --> 00:10:33.230 Monster. The Holy Grail of monsters. Shields 00:10:33.230 --> 00:10:36.710 travels to Scotland. And lo and behold, he obtains 00:10:36.710 --> 00:10:39.840 photos that are claimed to be of Nessie. Yeah, 00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:41.519 we've seen these photos in the source notes. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.799 The Muppet photo is the really famous one, right? 00:10:43.960 --> 00:10:46.259 Yes. Often called the Nessie Muppet photo because, 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:48.879 well, it looks a bit like a Muppet rising out 00:10:48.879 --> 00:10:51.299 of the water. It really does. Very stylized. 00:10:51.340 --> 00:10:53.700 The skin looks almost classed to scene. It's 00:10:53.700 --> 00:10:57.200 incredibly distinct. But despite looking to modern 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:00.500 eyes, anyway, pretty fake, it had a massive impact. 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:03.100 Massive. It hit the front page of the Daily Mirror. 00:11:03.259 --> 00:11:06.039 The headline was, Up for the Jubilee Nessie. 00:11:06.220 --> 00:11:09.490 Oh, because it was 1977. Yes. Queen's Silver 00:11:09.490 --> 00:11:11.929 Jubilee year. He had completely hijacked the 00:11:11.929 --> 00:11:14.090 national conversation. And this wasn't an accident. 00:11:14.169 --> 00:11:16.929 He called this the monster mind experiment. Right. 00:11:16.990 --> 00:11:18.669 And this is where we need to connect the dots 00:11:18.669 --> 00:11:20.950 back to his art background. Okay, lay it on us. 00:11:21.090 --> 00:11:23.149 If he was just a scammer trying to sell photos, 00:11:23.350 --> 00:11:25.789 he would have tried to make them look as realistic 00:11:25.789 --> 00:11:28.289 and boring as possible. Just a vague hump in 00:11:28.289 --> 00:11:31.210 the distance, out of focus. Exactly. Yeah. But 00:11:31.210 --> 00:11:33.149 his monsters were flamboyant. They were weird. 00:11:33.210 --> 00:11:36.029 They had real personality. So you think he actually 00:11:36.029 --> 00:11:38.730 wanted people to question them? That brings us 00:11:38.730 --> 00:11:41.330 to his philosophy. He called it surrealchemy. 00:11:41.590 --> 00:11:43.529 Surrealchemy. Okay, let's break that down. It's 00:11:43.529 --> 00:11:45.730 a portmanteau of surrealism and alchemy. Right. 00:11:45.970 --> 00:11:48.070 Surrealism is about resolving the contradictory 00:11:48.070 --> 00:11:51.549 conditions of dream and reality. It's about making 00:11:51.549 --> 00:11:54.549 the unconscious visible. And alchemy? Alchemy 00:11:54.549 --> 00:11:57.190 is about transmutation turning lead into gold. 00:11:57.450 --> 00:12:00.549 For Shields, surrealchemy was about taking the 00:12:00.549 --> 00:12:03.769 leaden, boring reality of the 20th century, the 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:07.840 age of science, facts, skepticism, and transmuting 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.240 it into something magical. Wow. So the hoax wasn't 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.580 a lie. It was an artistic intervention. Exactly. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:14.899 Think about the situationist in France in the 00:12:14.899 --> 00:12:17.840 60s, Guy Debord, and the Society of the Spectacle. 00:12:17.879 --> 00:12:19.879 Oh, yeah. They believed in creating situations 00:12:19.879 --> 00:12:22.039 that jolted people out of their passive existence. 00:12:22.620 --> 00:12:24.500 Shields was doing that with monsters. He was 00:12:24.500 --> 00:12:27.440 using the media as his canvas. Yes. The front 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:29.740 page of the Daily Mirror became his gallery wall. 00:12:30.090 --> 00:12:32.450 He was injecting a myth back into the modern 00:12:32.450 --> 00:12:34.409 world. That's brilliant. If you look at it that 00:12:34.409 --> 00:12:37.389 way, the question of is the monster real becomes 00:12:37.389 --> 00:12:40.570 completely irrelevant. Because the reaction is 00:12:40.570 --> 00:12:44.110 real. Exactly. The wonder is real. The argument 00:12:44.110 --> 00:12:47.230 in the pub about whether it's real, that is the 00:12:47.230 --> 00:12:51.049 art. That is a fascinating reframe. Because usually 00:12:51.049 --> 00:12:53.529 we look at hoaxers as villains. We think they're 00:12:53.529 --> 00:12:56.110 laughing at us. But you're saying Shields was 00:12:56.110 --> 00:12:58.750 inviting us to play. He was inviting us to participate 00:12:58.750 --> 00:13:01.559 in a mystery. He never admitted they were fakes, 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:05.559 not explicitly. He maintained the kayfabe, to 00:13:05.559 --> 00:13:08.179 use a pro wrestling term. He stayed in character. 00:13:08.460 --> 00:13:10.279 That commitment is impressive. Most people would 00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:13.179 crack and say, gotcha, eventually. He respected 00:13:13.179 --> 00:13:15.159 the game too much for that, and he didn't stop 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:18.000 after the 70s either. No. The media frenzy died 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:21.440 down, sure, but Shields kept evolving. In the 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:23.960 1980s and beyond, he moved into playwriting. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:26.419 I have to mention the titles of his plays because 00:13:26.419 --> 00:13:28.960 they are just delightful. You've got Spooks, 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:31.899 The Galavant Variations, Night Jars. And my personal 00:13:31.899 --> 00:13:34.899 favorite, Cloth Owl, The Winking Curtain. Cloth 00:13:34.899 --> 00:13:36.659 Owl, The Winking Curtain. I mean, that sounds 00:13:36.659 --> 00:13:38.620 like something out of a fever dream. It's pure 00:13:38.620 --> 00:13:41.360 surrealism. And again, I want to stress he wasn't 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:43.379 shouting into the void or putting these on in 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:46.139 his backyard. These were real production. Yes. 00:13:46.720 --> 00:13:49.830 One of his plays, Distant Humps. Was co -produced 00:13:49.830 --> 00:13:52.769 by Ken Campbell. And Ken Campbell is a legend 00:13:52.769 --> 00:13:56.549 in British experimental theater. The Warp, the 00:13:56.549 --> 00:13:58.490 science fiction theater of Liverpool. He's a 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:01.830 big deal. Huge deal. And the play co -starred 00:14:01.830 --> 00:14:04.070 Christopher Fairbank, people. Might know him 00:14:04.070 --> 00:14:06.769 from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet Pater, or as the broker 00:14:06.769 --> 00:14:09.149 in Guardians of the Galaxy. But wow. So Shields 00:14:09.149 --> 00:14:11.009 was still collaborating with serious, talented 00:14:11.009 --> 00:14:13.710 artists. He wasn't a pariah. And he also kept 00:14:13.710 --> 00:14:16.029 writing magic books, right? He did. Like The 00:14:16.029 --> 00:14:18.830 Shields Effect, The Cantrip Codex. He remained 00:14:18.830 --> 00:14:21.190 a significant figure in the bizarre magic world. 00:14:21.370 --> 00:14:23.570 He really became an elder statesman of the weird. 00:14:24.049 --> 00:14:27.490 He also documented his own mythology. In 1990, 00:14:27.710 --> 00:14:29.730 he published a book called Monstrum. And there 00:14:29.730 --> 00:14:32.269 was another one by John Downes, right? Yes, Owlman 00:14:32.269 --> 00:14:35.429 and Others in 1996, which cemented a lot of this 00:14:35.429 --> 00:14:37.470 lore. But through all the monsters, the plays, 00:14:37.570 --> 00:14:39.809 the magic tricks, he never stopped painting. 00:14:39.850 --> 00:14:42.330 Never. The source notes emphasize this heavily. 00:14:42.509 --> 00:14:44.769 He continued to paint and exhibit right up until 00:14:44.769 --> 00:14:47.850 the end. Wow. He died very recently, on July 00:14:47.850 --> 00:14:51.190 11, 2024, in County Kerry, Ireland. He was 86 00:14:51.190 --> 00:14:53.789 years old. Man, it really feels like the end 00:14:53.789 --> 00:14:57.070 of an era. It is. When you look at the full arc, 00:14:57.110 --> 00:14:59.389 from sitting on a committee with Barbara Hepworth 00:14:59.389 --> 00:15:03.070 to photographing a monster in Loch Ness, it is 00:15:03.070 --> 00:15:05.870 just a singular life. It's a life that refuses 00:15:05.870 --> 00:15:08.490 to be categorized. If you put him in the artist 00:15:08.490 --> 00:15:10.789 box, you miss the magic. If you put him in the 00:15:10.789 --> 00:15:12.830 hoaxer box, you miss the intellect. And I think 00:15:12.830 --> 00:15:15.269 that's what surreal comedy was all about. It 00:15:15.269 --> 00:15:18.250 was about dissolving those boxes entirely. It 00:15:18.250 --> 00:15:21.769 was about proving that reality is way more malleable 00:15:21.769 --> 00:15:24.649 than we think. He treated his entire life as 00:15:24.649 --> 00:15:27.269 a piece of performance art. So looking back at 00:15:27.269 --> 00:15:29.309 this deep dive, for you listening, what is the 00:15:29.309 --> 00:15:30.990 one thing that should stick with you? When you 00:15:30.990 --> 00:15:33.330 zoom out and look at the whole timeline, what's 00:15:33.330 --> 00:15:35.529 the lesson here? For me, it's about the value 00:15:35.529 --> 00:15:38.649 of the unknown. We live in a time. We have high 00:15:38.649 --> 00:15:41.149 definition cameras in our pockets. We have AI. 00:15:41.429 --> 00:15:43.830 We can fact check anything in seconds. Yeah. 00:15:43.889 --> 00:15:46.470 If a monster popped its head up today, 10 ,000 00:15:46.470 --> 00:15:48.669 drones would be live streaming it in 4K within 00:15:48.669 --> 00:15:51.269 the hour. Exactly. There's nowhere for the monsters 00:15:51.269 --> 00:15:53.990 to hide anymore. The map is filled in. But Shields 00:15:53.990 --> 00:15:56.590 lived in a time, and perhaps created a time, 00:15:56.769 --> 00:16:00.429 where the map still had shadows. He reminded 00:16:00.429 --> 00:16:03.559 us that the world is weird. And I wonder, in 00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:06.379 our rush for facts and clarity, do we miss the 00:16:06.379 --> 00:16:09.019 magic of a well -crafted mystery? That's a great 00:16:09.019 --> 00:16:11.559 point. Was he deceiving the world or was he offering 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:15.240 us a gift? Right. Was he lying or was he just 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:17.460 telling a story so good that it briefly became 00:16:17.460 --> 00:16:19.659 true? You know, it makes me think maybe the real 00:16:19.659 --> 00:16:22.139 alchemy wasn't about changing reality at all. 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:23.659 What do you mean? Maybe it was about changing 00:16:23.659 --> 00:16:26.299 us, like transmuting our own willingness to believe. 00:16:26.940 --> 00:16:29.159 In a hyper -rational world, maybe the ultimate 00:16:29.159 --> 00:16:31.720 magic trick is getting adults to look at a weird 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:34.299 plasticine shape in the water and feel, just 00:16:34.299 --> 00:16:36.980 for a second, that anything is possible. I love 00:16:36.980 --> 00:16:39.940 that. Maybe, just maybe, the world needs a few 00:16:39.940 --> 00:16:41.720 more monsters, even if we have to make them up 00:16:41.720 --> 00:16:43.700 ourselves. That is a powerful thought. Something 00:16:43.700 --> 00:16:46.039 to chew on the next time you see a grainy photo 00:16:46.039 --> 00:16:48.659 on the internet or a ripple in the water. Maybe 00:16:48.659 --> 00:16:51.379 don't be so quick to debunk it. Maybe just enjoy 00:16:51.379 --> 00:16:54.620 the what -if. Indeed. Tony Doc Shields. Artist, 00:16:54.820 --> 00:16:57.799 wizard, monster maker. Thanks for taking this 00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:00.159 dive into the surreal with us. It's been an absolute 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:02.299 pleasure. And to you listening, keep looking 00:17:02.299 --> 00:17:04.539 for The Strange and the Everyday. We'll see you 00:17:04.539 --> 00:17:06.160 on the next Deep Dive.