For as long as I can remember I have loved to draw. In school art was always my favorite subject and some of my very first report cards indicate that my teachers noticed. Every year when I went to get my yearbook photo taken I fell into the same trap: the photographer asked what subject I liked best and I answered, ‘art,’ to which he replied, ‘Art? Who’s that? Is he cute?’ I would grin with embarrassment and vow to not repeat the same mistake again, but of course I did every year. Like most children, I didn’t think much about what I wanted to do with my life. If asked in class I would say ‘paleontology’ because I liked dinosaurs and I thought it was a neat word. As I got older I thought about doing something related to art as a career, but it wasn’t until my first trip to a museum in Chicago that I knew I wanted to be an artist for the rest of my life.
It was my junior year in high school. I didn’t like high school and usually didn’t participate in anything related to it. My sociology teacher, Mr. Green, took his class to Chicago every year to visit various sites including a visit to an inner city school (how he got away with saying it had to do with sociology). I wasn’t int
I looked up to see one of the most magnificent works Bacon ever created. A triptych based on the figures witnessing the crucifixion. In ornate gold frames strange creatures cried out in agony from their intense red cages. Their mouths twisted and ugly at once captivated and horrified me. I moved from painting to painting slowly. Each new image built on the previous, creating a raw, new world. The figures showed a side of human nature not often seen in paintings and Bacon’s delivery could not have been better. In these images I saw what art was and what art could be.
to a group that was huddled around one of Bacon’s painting of Pope Innocent. I was beet red and breathing hard. I looked around, but all the blood that had suddenly rushed to my head prevented me from seeing. Finally I relaxed when I realized I hadn’t been caught and now, probably wouldn’t. That is when the real excitement began.
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