Tampa was a great success (thanks, Iron Chic!), Sarasota was a lot of fun, and Wednesday night I did my first Downtown (Jacksonville) Artwalk from Burrito Gallery (which also went really well). Here are a couple photos of the table set-up I had for prints and of (most of) the art that I’ve got up on the wall right now.
AND DID I MENTION that, while in Sarasota/Bradenton, I explored new and foreign territory? I had never built anything before and don’t know shit about carpentry but it’s not like I’ve ever known anything about art and I haven’t let that stopped me! So I took some measurements, bought some lumber, and built a platform for my bed and furniture, inside my van. I’m pretty proud of it and now I’ve got extra storage space to keep my larger canvases (and whatever else). And even though (right now) I only have a couple, I really doubt that I’ll be so lucky as to sell all of my pieces at my Burrito Gallery and Chamblin’s exhibits, so this will come in handy in April when it’s time to pack up and leave Florida for my next adventure/exhibition. Here are some photos of the process and the new/improved set-up inside my little mobile studio/home.
I really enjoy the little life I’ve been building for myself (and that includes living out of/sleeping in the minivan) but… I just climbed into a real bed and am about to eat some cookie dough and watch an episode of The Simpsons. And that sounds pretty cool too.
Last night went well enough that I can justify getting down to Sarasota by way of tagging along with Iron Chic and selling/painting at tonight’s show at Skatepark of Tampa. It’s really hard to watch Iron Chic play and not just smile the whole time so I’m pretty excited to extend my little punk rock weekend by a day. And to see some people I care about in Sarasota (even though I gotta head right back up to Jacksonville on Wednesday morning so I can be at Burrito Gallery for Artwalk). ALL GOOD THINGS!
I’m at a print shop in Gainesville, replenishing my stock again and getting the first batch of prints for my two most recent paintings.
And as I wrote that out, they’re ready to go so I’m gonna hit the road to Tampa and bag these little guys up once I get down there.
Friday, I sold art at the Civic Media Center in Gainesville. Drove back to Jacksonville last night and sold at the Four Families album release show. AND NOW – after seeing Gord post something about Atlanta – I’ve keenly deduced that not only are Iron Chic playing in Gainesville tonight, but they’re playing with Off With Their Heads and The Slow Death! Couldn’t be more excited. I hit up Johnny to see if I could sell art at the show tonight and – now that I’ve got the go-ahead and know that I can make some money to cover gas – I’m about to hit the road and drive right back to Gainesville.
Things couldn’t be going better lately. That (and the fact that I’ve been off Adderall for MORE THAN A WEEK now) has had an interesting effect on my artistic output. I’m less in my head, less troubled, and painting nonsense like this:
“Yo – I Painted a Fuckin’ Unicorn.” 2/28/14. Acrylic paint. 16×16″. [original / pre-fire version]
My favorite element of the painting is the arrow at the bottom center – directing the viewer’s attention to the unicorn. You know – IN CASE ANYONE’S HAVING TROUBLE FINDING IT.
UPDATE! / ADDENDUM!(April 24, 2014)
In April of last year, I was at an art fair kinda thing, where I met an artist named William Somma. He asked me if I’d like to collaborate on a painting. He threw a bunch of colors onto a canvas and then handed it off to me so that I could paint a bunch of my funny faces on top. The result was our painting, “Limp.” When it was done, he asked if I’d like to do another. He threw a bunch of colors on the second canvas but they didn’t dry before the day was done. I took it home with me and didn’t pick it up again for almost a year. That second painting (eventually) became, “Yo – I Painted a Fuckin’ Unicorn.”
Here’s the thing… None of Will’s colors were still on the canvas by the time I was finished with it. His texture was still underneath my paint but I felt guilty about it. I argued with myself over whether I should acknowledge that this was the same canvas (and risk hurting his feelings) or say nothing and – should he ever ask about the canvas – LIE and say that I lost it. In the moment that I decided to share the painting online, I didn’t even think of the whole dilemma.
A couple days ago, Will sent me an email: “Hey, question… I was browsing your paintings and I noticed the unicorn one. Is that the one I gave you at Art Pool underneath? The texture made it turn out pretty neat.”
Holy shit, that kid’s got a good eye! That was a year ago!!
I told Will all about my guilt and shame and he was totally cool about it. The whole thing was a giant relief.
AND CHECK IT OUT: Now my Unicorn painting has a way better story! Being mentally ill sure keeps things interesting!
Update (2026): I GOT THIS PAINTING BACK when its original owner GAVE UP ALL EARTHLY POSSESSIONS to live in the woods (or something like that). So, depending on when you’re reading this, it may once more be available to purchase. This painting was damaged in the fire, so I resealed and repainted it on that same/original canvas. And then I sold it again. It looks like this now:
Yo – I Painted a Fuckin’ Unicorn [2026 / after-the-fire version]
“Raygun Youth.” 8/3/13. Acrylic paint and ink on wood panel. 24×6″.
I painted this for the cover of Billy Raygun’s posthumous discographic cassette. Each of the three bits of text is a lyric from a song of theirs that means something to me.
I thought I heard you calling; it was just the emptiness ringing in my head. I still think about you a lot. I still think about you a lot. I still think about you a lot.
In April 2011, my six-year relationship with Taylor came to a close. She broke up with me. I didn’t take it well. I had been pretty strung out on heroin, in a pretty bad way, for a little while but had just gotten into my first “treatment program” a few days prior (it was just methadone maintenance – not exactly the best path to wellness but what did I know?) On top of that, final exams for my final semester at Georgetown Law were about to begin and I hadn’t been to any of my classes all year. I didn’t even own the textbooks. I had a lot of studying to do if I was gonna graduate on time and I knew god damn well that if I didn’t graduate now that it was never gonna happen. I needed to keep it together (get it together) real, real fast if I was gonna keep everything in my life from crumbling into absolute shit, misery, and failure. Between the methadone, the heroin, the Adderall, and the sleep deprivation that goes along with studying in 24-hour shifts, I was … not entirely well. For a while there, I started to experience regular auditory hallucinations. Mostly, it was people (strangers) screaming at each other. It was like channel surfing on a TV where every single show featured nothing but loud, angry people. Occasionally though, I’d get a break in that and hear something softer and sweeter: “Sam…” It was a voice I knew; it was Taylor’s voice. Every single time, I’d turn around without fail, hoping (and actually believing) that this time she’d actually be standing there. She never was (of course) but it still broke my heart a little bit every time. It was a miserable cycle of studying, drugs, and crying.
All of this care / not caring is killing me.
This lyric isn’t tied into any one specific memory as much as it serves as an all-encompassing description of my relationships (romantic and otherwise) throughout my life. Oscillating frantically back and forth between giving a shit and shutting down. Between feeling loved and feeling abandoned and rejected. Sometimes it seems like my emotions are wired to a light switch. It doesn’t take a lot to flip from “perfect” love to total apathy (or even hatred). And since “we’re attracted to those at our same level of sickness/health,” I’ve gotten mixed up with plenty of girls who are equally skilled at unintentional (often drug-fueled) emotional back-and-forth. There was one night in early 2012 when my then-girlfriend professed her deep, unending, profound love for me in one moment, and was swearing that I was a disgusting, ugly, unlovable piece of shit in the next. And before the hour was up, she was right back to telling me how wonderful I was. Experiences like that can fuck with a person…
I’ll just admit that it’s a different girl, the same old story.
When I half-heartedly tried to kill myself in December 2012, I didn’t write a suicide note, but I did scribble something down on the back of one of many scraps of paper that were laying around my room. All that it said: “different girl / same old story.”
—–
Ideally, I’d have held on to sharing this until this release was announced but – shit – it’s been more than six months since I painted it so… sorry, kids!
Here’s a stream of their self-titled full-length. The first song is the first song I quoted lyrics from.
