Title: The Beat
16 by 20
I just thought this was a cute little pun. Call me sentimental.
Words: I am a Beat.
Title: Animal Farm
36 by 48
Animal Farm is one of my favorite books, and I couldn't help doing
a painting about it.At the end of the book the pigs are sitting around
the table with the farmers and the animals looking in the window
couldn't tell the pigs from the farmers. Meaning Stalin was only an
opportunist, and not a communist at all. Words: It was already
impossible 2 say which was which, Pig, "To Manor Farm," Farmer, Red,
Metaphor by Orwell, Pig, Farmer, Hoof, It's good if you're a Marxist,
'Stalin was not a Communist!'
Title: The Birth of a Businessman
32 by 24
(As opposed to The Death of a Salesman.) There's really no explanation
for this one, it is what it is.
Words: Womb, (on his briefcase) Business, 9-5.
Title: Home Sweet Home
16 by 20
I found a wooden board with a square piece of burlap glued to it.
I immediatelythought the burlap would make a great "Home Sweet Home"
sign, if the home I'm trying to refer to is some run down ghetto crack
house. And also this painting was done during a time when I was
really into the television show HOMICIDE and the whole gang war situation
and how mothers feel when their children are gang members. Words:
stolen nikes, GSWs to the chest, (Yet another) 'Victim' of the Gang
War, GSW to the head, murder weapon, The Fat Black Mama, weep.
Title: Gay Valentine
11 by 11
Even homosexuals celebrate Valentine's Day.
Title: Ugly
11 by 28
Not to say that hairy armpits are ugly; it's a sarcastic statement.
And sometimes that's hard to understand, and so I want to make it
perfectly clear. Hairy armpits are not ugly. I actually admire women
who don't shave. They don't question themselves, they're strong, they
have their own minds and they don't let society tell them what they
should do with their own bodies. Hurray for hairy armpits!
Title: Generic cold capsles, two birth control pills, and AZT
16 by 20
AZT, for those of you who don't know (and I know there are a lot of you
out there; every damn person I asked had no clue what AZT was), is the
medication that AIDS patients take to keep up there T-cell level, to
keep the "healthy." This painting is saying that AIDS patients are just
like the rest of us. They have the same problems, they live the same
lives.
Title: Imagine
16 by 20
In art class one of the girls was talking about how it's required by
one art college (she wanted to attend) for an applicant to admit a drawing
of a bicycle. And I thought how cool it would be to paint one. So I
sat in my garage, looking at my bike, and I came up with this. It ain't
exceptable for the college cuz you have to use pencil, but that wasn't my
goal anyway. And then I just added the words: "mass transit," and
I thought that conjured up a nice image.
Title: Self Portrait
11 by 28
Well, this one is supposed to speak for itself.
Title: Contact
16 by 20
Ever seen the movie CONTACT? It's one of my favorites. And the
alien at one point says to Jodie Foster: "In all our searching, the
one thing we found that makes the emptiness bearable is each other."
And I weep at that line.
Title: Chaos admist conformity
22 by 28
I swear to the nonexistent God that one night we had vegetables for
din din and I looked down at my fork and the corn, carrots, and green
bean were arranged just as in this painting. I thought the only
explanation for this would be chaos. There's no logic involved. So I
did this painting about it.
Title: 'Happy' painting for Chris
22 by 28
My friend, Chris, told me that I should paint something "happy."
And at the time I was always a complete cynic. So I produced a girl
standing in the rain and then cut it down. Telling the viewer to
dismiss it. Words: common, trite, pointless, banal, pay no
attention to this "happy" painting.
Title: FIRE!
22 by 28
I think this one speaks for itself. Words: ready, aim...
Title: The spider on my arm . . .
16 by 20
One day I was standing in the laundry room and I reached up to get
something off a shelf. I looked at my arm, and there was a huge
daddy longlegs smiling down at me. Having the greatest fear of
insects one can have, I freaked and shook my arm rapidly, thus
dispelling myself of the evil spider.
Title: Fourth grade educations
22 by 28
We read this short story in English and the author said at one
point that he never wants to end up like a poor farmer wearing
biballs with a fourthgrade education in his head. That line
really struck me. This painting is about how we've diminished
ourselves and now instead of brightening our horizins we drink
Coke. Words: fouthgrade educations, Andy (Warhol): where are
you when I need you?
Title: Self Portrait
22 by 28
I always walk around barefoot, and refuse to wear shoes (they
are the tools of the devil). And people think I am unsanitary
and a bum. But there's a lot on my mind(s). And so all the
phrases on this painting are things I was thinking about when I
painted it. Proof that I'm no bum. Words: dream, infinite
death, drive 35 keep our kids alive, secrets, her rag, words,
the brain, beware of psychotic freaks with cameras, enigmatic
cow, beat, vato, I know all, wisdom, my-story, dirt and bile.
Title: Gay white men
22 by 28
This painting is vulger, I know. But I'm just trying to make a
point. Some of the words say 'Pure' and 'True love' and both
of these phrases have questions marks after them that are
likewise crossed out. This is to say people question whether
gay love is real love, but it is real, it is true, it is pure.
Other words: Day: simply co-workers, Night: hot wet lovers,
Tom, Spike.
Title: Untitled (Heaven)
22 by 28
Slightly inspired by the poem "Alone" by Edgar Allan Poe. (I was
casually assigned to do a painting based on the images created by
the words of the poem, but I never turnedin the painting.) Also
I was just titillated by the idea of the Devil dancing
triumphantly in Heaven (where most would least expect him).
