It was only a year ago when we were celebrating my first project that was specifically designed for children, about as far as one can get from the titillating stripteases typical of my oeuvre, and as such one of the most exciting and intriguing projects I’ve ever completed. ‘Once Upon A Watercolor’ was a literal, and artistic, return to my childhood. When I was a kid I absolutely adored art of all kinds, but I was especially drawn to things of vibrant color – paint and crayons and markers and pastels. The most pleasing sight to me was an array of artistic media arranged in rainbow order. That love for color has never left me, neither has my love for the whimsical and charming.
I did my best to bring all of those happy components into a project that was born from the atrocities of the ‘PVRTD’ book of photography from the previous year. The winter that followed found the world falling further into disrepair and deterioration, echoing the dim themes of ‘PVRTD’ in stark, gray-shaded fashion.
I wanted something saturated with watercolor whimsy, light-hearted and frivolous, with just the slightest little lesson hidden among its prettiness. I wanted something I could show my niece and nephew and all the children of my friends, who had all started to grow up too quickly. Mostly, I wanted to return to play, to exploring, to painting without a care in the world how awful or amateurish it might appear. That winter, painting color on paper kept me sane, and seeded the idea of a children’s story. There were no grand illusions that this would be some classic work of art that stood up next to the likes of all those classic children’s books that had occupied my childhood. This was a private love letter that threaded all the names of the kids I had come to know into a silly story about a summer party, to be released at a very similar Flower Party that would unknowingly be the last big party we would throw for quite some time.
Taking away all serious intent freed me up to be as frivolous and fun as I wanted to be, a much-welcome change of pace from practically all of my previous projects. That may have been one of the very first sparks that signaled the realization that I was taking things way too seriously. Leave it to the children to lead the way.
{See ‘Once Upon A WaterColor’ here. Also see ‘StoneLight’, ‘The Circus Project’, ‘A Night at the Hotel Chelsea’, ‘A 21stCentury Renaissance: The Resurrection Tour’, ‘Bardo ~ The Dream Surreal’, ‘The Delusional Grandeur Tour: Last Stand of a Rock Star’ and ‘PVRTD’.}
