EYE CANDY, 2022

Way back in 2006 I was creating a mural/ installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It was summer time and the MCA had a day camp for little kids. All the campers rolled in one day, but instead of talking my ear off about what I was painting, the kids were in a group trying to outdo one another. "Yo! Check out my bling! Noooo, check out MY bling! No man, I got the most bling"! Evidently they had been allowed to stop at the candy store and half the campers were all decked out in ring pops.

I had to investigate. They saw me coming, turned around and you guessed it - they showed me their bling! It made me think: about bling, about possessions, about their age. So of course a ring pop ended up in my installation.

I've been painting them ever since. Part of the attraction is the challenge to create the illusion of something shiny and sticky, but in paint. Also, working with color to render what is reflective and translucent aint easy. I'm a big fan of dynamic color and shiny crap. Think of my chips bags (urban tumbleweeds)…

It’s a perfect image since I've always described my personal work as social realism through (ahem) "pop art".

It's fun to have this mural loom over the "Mag Mile" with it's high end shopping and certain lack of activity the past couple of years. Plus, it's nostalgic for me since the MCA is right around the corner. I watch kids point and get excited, while adults get a sense of nostalgia. The rich colors provide all with something sweet for the eyes.

Big ups to MARK and Cushman and Wakefield. And bigger ups to the dream team: Erik MIB, JJ Hollywood, Brendan the Cat, and Jason the Professor.