Back in 2007, I wanted to start working on a new painting, but I had no ideas. I decided to ask a co-worker what would be a cool painting idea? He looked at me quizzically and wasn’t quite sure how to answer. I told him, think about it and I’ll ask you again in a week.
The next week, I asked him again and he said:”Ok, so…a there’s hotdog holding a hotdog on the surface of Mars, but it’s got have mustard on it and it has to have grill marks on the bun as well.”
I looked at him, soaking the entire image up in my imagination, grinned really big and said: “Ok. Cool. Thank You!”
So I began the work to create what he described to me. I love the ideas that people throw out that they could never turn Two weeks later, I presented him with the finished painting.
His eyes got really big and he said: “Whoa! You ACTUALLY DID IT?? I responded” Well, of course! I can’t make this shit up. I loved the juxtaposition of imagery and could see possibility in it for organic symmetry, hidden shapes and micro detail, let alone the interesting colors for rocks and the ground surface.
What’s really cool is that everyone who has ever seen it connects with it in some way, which is awesome.
For Christmas one year, I had it printed on a giant 24″x24″ canvas and gave one to my brother. It looked AMAZING in a larger size. The original is only 12″x12″, so this dwarfed it by comparison.
He looked at it, didn’t know what to say. My Mom, God love her, was confused and had no understanding to even BEGIN to try to understand it even on an “absurd” level, but that’s ok.
He told me months later that it was hanging in his office at Ascentium Capital in Houston, Texas. He said that literally everyday, someone comments on it. That was awesome to hear that. That tells me that it is working as a piece of art. It is a conversation piece that gets people thinking, talking and connecting.
When someone in the world purchases a print directly from my Etsy store, I can’t tell you how much that means to me as an artist. Especially this particular painting, because it is unique and definitely a conversation piece. The longer you look at it, the more things you will notice. I always say, the best art is the kind that keeps on giving every time you view it. It becomes a multidimensional transcendant experience in viewing.
One of the most original messages I received from a buyer of this particular print said that he had it professionally framed and it now sits proudly on the wall behind his hot dog roller machine in his man cave! That is priceless. I love it!
