I have cherished a painting for many years, and recently, I decided to analyze why it holds such significance for me.
My grandsons would deadpan, "You're probably gay, grandpa. You know, rainbows?" Yeah, well, they're pretty straight up like that and quite funny.
In all reality, and just to be clear, in my now far less active state, I'm grateful to have been any team member, so to speak.
Returning to this beautiful depiction of a face I once knew—before any conclusions are jumped into, this person was decidedly not a lover of mine but a great truth lover, nonetheless. Much of what this piece means to me lies in its multi-faceted dualities.
Let me begin with a tale involving this face.
I was asked by my now-defunct employer in the mental health industrial complex to take a female student to the airport in Las Vegas from Southern Utah. Without any other available staff, male or female. Yeah, inappropriate as heck, right?
Well, I knew I wasn't at all inclined toward any predatory behavior, especially with a fiercely comical, awesome underage lesbian teen artist. I was in my 50's and well intentioned stupidity seemed much more justifyible back then.
I threw caution to the wind to get this kid home to her family further down the road. Over the course of past daily interactions, I liked and trusted her not to misrepresent matters within a circumstance to create chaos or profit. Respect.
As it developed, it was about a two-hour conversation and drive that revealed a profound truth in my soul about sweet equality within the human soul.
In my reality, this kid was basically a very cute little dude with no penis, with whom I shared a great general appreciation—for the human female. This mere child's descriptive passion and comedic approach for her loves put my own ability for loving to shame.
From the yin-yang reality of who we were in any physical or sociological way, we shared an almost laser-like focus of intent within a romantic philosophy.
During those moments we drove, I didn't say much. I asked questions where appropriate but really just let this great kid roll out her vision for a perfect world with her perfect companion.
It was far less inappropriate sexual conversation than one about her future romantic life intent. She was confidently hopeful and aggressively naive, believing that love finds a way if you can just love hard enough.
My yang side of this puzzle, I attribute to this painting, is my having had a similar romantic intent in my heart. Unspoken, yet realized at that moment and now art packed with me through three homes. This painting, for me, represents respect and trust for the truth and passion of an honest love.
This magnificent piece was painted by one of the great artists of my time, whose name I cannot divulge. My passenger painted it, and I loved it. She gifted it to me.
I have collected other art before and since, but this little girl's expressions in color and persona are still my ride or die art.
If she ever reads this and recognizes herself, thank you for opening my mind and sharing your art with me. It's not forgotten.
-Hermit King-
https://open.spotify.com/track/7c0se2w4QXZ9V4MoHWhshC?si=S6xKBlksTvCapN8wBCw4sA
