What difference does it make?

'Oh The Devil Will Find Work For Idle Hands To Do' 1992 acrylic and cardboard on board.

'I Stole And Then I Lied Just Because You Asked Me To' 1992 acrylic, cardboard and paper on board.

Welcome to my youth and the beginnings of my painting career.  You may recall me telling you about  my love of the graphic and Pop Art?  Well no one spoke to these sensibilities quite like Jasper Johns.  I began painting and drawing American flags and targets the year I decided graphic communication was not the career path for me.  

The titles of these works refer to The Smiths song 'What Difference Does It Make?', the lyrics of which I later scratched in to another canvas with a safety pin.  It caused me so much pain I stuck and icy pole stick to my finger just to finish the work.  Now that is suffering for your art.  Actually not sticking the icy pole stick to my finger would have been closer to suffering for my art.  I was in fact suffering from a broken heart and found solace in wise and upbeat lyrics of The Smiths, and anyone who cares to contradict me surely has not suffered a heart as broken as mine.

These paintings have been photographed ''wrapped in plastic'' (Twin Peaks anyone?)  I love the effect.  They were recently unearthed from the cubby house in the back yard of my parents house.  The same cubby house that at least two brush tail possums have called home for the past past million years.  As far as the possums go, they only tried to eat one painting.  Actually it was the pine wood stretcher they either used as a scratching post or a toothbrush rather than the canvas.  One canvas we found had disintegrated so badly there was barely anything left of it.  The rest of the plastic covered paintings had a pleasant aroma of shellac and possum piss.  A smell that would turn even a true nature enthusiast.

While the rest of my angsty Smiths/ Johns ridden youth were duly photographed before hitting the scrap heap, these two paintings I kept for posterity.  They have since been relocated to the relative safety of the garage, where they are now at the mercy of two hatch backs and my parents driving ability.