"Live Fast. Die Awesome." -ZF

Eden said "I think I'm gonna move to California." And so she did.

The way the road was shaped on the right side of the panel made a sign that looked like part of a kick drum. It was obvious what the billboard would say.

Gaslight fans would recognize it and it seemed to fit the story. It was exactly what Eden would do when she got to Hollywood.

She was invincible.

I'm sure she saw the sign but didn't know.

Live Fast, Die Awesome from Benny's drums. It is a quote from a friend of the band who died in a car crash. He is said to be the inspiration for the 59 Sound.

Car crashes and the quote became a part of the story.

When the Positive Charge video came out I was in the midst of painting this one. It was from the first Gaslight album in a long time and I was just getting addicted to this painting thing at the same time.

The video was from the perspective of someone driving. To me, it felt like Eden's perspetive as she drove off to California. It was the exact spark I needed.

Eden became the parallel, version of Mae but more fictional. Eden would move to Hollywood and live the illusion over and over and over again. Burning spectacularly every time.

In the 80s and 90s Eden was indoctrinated simultaneously and in equal parts with two things—religion, and Hollywood values. There is power in what we consume. It shapes our mind.

The girl in the red gown who used to be Eden making her Hollywood entrance is now this weird aquatic looking creature with an eye for a head.

I hate this one so much that I feel it in my stomach.

I hate her so much I have to show her love.

I’m going to work with her layers and find out what she's all about.

I don't like the shape of her head but the dress is so pretty I wish it was mine.

80s Acid Wash and 90s Lipstick

This painting has had many ugly layers.

There are scattered words, from 1930 embedded in the gesso. It feels like I wrote that before.

I love that no matter how many layers of ugliness, in the texture it will always say “give me mercy and a minute and just keep breathing.”

These songs were my prayers and music is medicine.

Later on in the story I was working on the set below. It connected with Lost in Hollywood which connected with Eden in stories I'm yet to post. The quote seemed to belong here again as the shape on the left canvas echoed the one on that first trip to Hollywood.

That buliding on the right has showed up in a few paintings.

The crow is everywhere.

There seemed to be a god holding the Earth and looking down through it.

So, I called this set Atlas Hands after the Benjamin Francis Leftwich song that gave me a layer of Lost in Hollywood.

This is a very early layer.

When I flipped one panel, Atlas was dropping the twins to earth. It became Eden's origin story. The moment she left her own Jackson--her cosmic twin. The quote from Benny's kick drum became a conversation.

Live Fast.

Awesome "

And the quote mark was a peace sign that would become a signal between them just like red shoes and headlights.

This was a promise and a dare. They would not stay apart for too long, but they would take risks and it would be awesome.

Z, her Jackson, is delighted and excited by the dare and ready for the adventure.

The hands let them go out into the world.

As time goes by...

After a few more layers I see Jackson running through the middle of the canvas. The Titanic is sinking down his back as he runs away. There’s a little red farm house under the sinking ship. The ship is a train if you look at it a different way. Two cities deeper still sit at the bottom. A thousand notes from the multiverse rise up the left side. While on the right side Eden appears in a glittery mint green and silver sparkle puffy shirt with a gold and black V neck and long bright yellow and gold skirt. When 'I look closer it's Mae in the yellow dress with a mint green boa. They're standing in a box that looks like underground roots and her blonde hair points upward like Marge Simpson into the pink sparkly airwaves.

Again, I think of Jem.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse