Static Age, 2006.

Static Age, 2006.

oil on canvas, 24" x 18".

Just a couple of American boys sitting in there car listening to music, this painting is based on my love of the language of punk. During my adolescence it was my sacrament. The CD the soldiers are listening to is a re-issue of The Misfits Static Age album. 

This is the static age we live in

Our eyes criss-cross, hold and gaze

This is the static age we live in

The painting is based on a photograph taken by my friend Jon Bush. John and I bartend together every Thursday and often talk shit about our music likes and dislikes. In 2004/2005 Jon went on tour with The Vandals to Iraq. He had all sorts of photographs of soldiers and band members hanging out in Saddam's palaces, and holding automatic weapons. But I liked this photo of the guys hanging out in a Humvee. I added the CD. 

The painting was first exhibited in a show curated by Joshua Altman at Stux Gallery, and then in a show curated by Dina Pugh at Jack Hanley Gallery in San Francisco. 

This painting has been described as photo-realistic which I think is funny because most of the painting was done with my fingers, and a rubber tipped eraser brush. Note the folds on the main soldiers leg. I think you can see a four fingered swoop. This painting was made rather quickly, about a week.