To be an artist is to (often) be seen as deviant.

What A Head Trip
Ballpoint pen on paper
Approx. 11 in. x 8.5 in.
(2008)

I don't need drugs. Srsly.


Nice little story to go along with this one.

I began this elaborate doodle about a month ago during down-time at work when there was literally nothing else to do. I'd take 5 or 10 minutes here or there, add a few more lines, curves, scratches, etc. I kept the drawing on a clipboard on the back counter. My co-workers know I'm an artist, and they all knew it was my drawing. A few made comments, etc.

I arrived to work this past Tuesday morning, already in a foul mood, to discover that my drawing, which I had kept in the same place the entire time, was missing. I looked everywhere, and it was simply gone. Infuriated, I assumed that someone had thrown it away. I was heartbroken and enraged.

Sometime later that morning, I bitched about the incident in a text message to my best friend (who also happens to work there), and she replied that she had seen the drawing in the Manager's office, yet hadn't realized it was mine -- and that she would have snagged it if she had.

Fortunately, at the end of the day, I was able to poke my head into the office, where I found the drawing laying atop a employee file bin of some kind. I retrieved it, rolled it up, slid it up my sleeve, and got the fuck out of there.



Now the question remains... what exactly was it fucking doing in the Manager's office?

Was I to be scolded and possibly punished for drawing while on company time?

And if so... what the fuck, am I in grammar school? Will I get a fucking detention? Will my mommy and daddy get a phone call?

Give me a fucking break.


Anyway... I'm just happy I was able to rescue my drawing. Because I did put several hours' work into it.


Over the years, I have come to the realization that one doesn't have to be a deviant artist to be considered "trouble" by non-creative types; one must simply be an artist in general, I think. Anyone who isn't a sheep, anyone who has a shred of individuality, is scrutinized by these controlling, corporate, bureaucratic types. The moment one steps outside the norm, the Powers That Be get confused and agitated; what they can't understand, they can't control.

And I am not one to be controlled, ever.