Why people can't stop talking about him: Earlier this year, Payne and fellow USF St. Pete student Reuben Pressman won CL's 10-100-1000 Challenge to launch Swings Tampa Bay (swingstampabay.com), a program that places swings in public places as guerilla-style acts of civic engagement and public art. (So far, they've installed about 50 around St. Pete.) His blog, huntermadeit.com, serves as a repository for drawings, illustrations, animations and other works that reflect his frenetic energy and a distinctive style of art-making he describes as "conceptual fuckhouse." This fall, he's raising funds through a Kickstarter campaign to launch "Let's Draw Underwater!!!," a project he'll exhibit in a solo show at Studio@620 in January.
On LDU!!!: "'Let's Draw Underwater!!!' is going to be totally fucking awesome. For three days straight I'm going to snorkel and freedive in the thriving coral reefs of the Florida Keys to draw and draw and draw whatever I think is going on down there. All the work from the adventure will be produced entirely underwater! … For this to be totally awesome we need everyone's help to raise $1000 for things like snorkel gear, Yupo waterproof paper, wax pencils, a waterproof GoPro HD video camera for the documentary, and a campsite so we have somewhere to leave our tent at night."
And then: "Opening March 23rd at the Studio@620 will be my show 'Choosy Moms Choose .Gif,' a hyperfuck sugar-banshee digital meltdown of terrible .gif animations and Motown music. CMCG will only be up for a week, so don't sleep. Get the fuck out here to drink lots of chocolate milk and go nuts!"
When he knew he was an artist: "I exited my mom wearing a beret and turtleneck, smoking cigarettes and masturbating to the sound of my voice."
See his oeuvre online: huntermadeit.com
This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2011.