2003-2014 Hunter S Thompson, Dan Valle, Ralph Steadman, Death Positive

Dan Valle and Silent James, Halloween 2003

In 1998, I saw Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas film. It had a big effect on me, I used to run up and down the halls in high school quoting Raoul Duke. I read the book, I especially loved the artwork by the great Ralph Steadman. In 2002, I met a punk kid at FIT named Dan Valle. He became one of my best friends. It turned out he loved Fear and Loathing as well, and we both dressed up for Halloween in 2003.

Silent James attending Ralph Steadman's show at AIB, Feb 2006

Hunter S. Thompson died in 2005. I remember my sisters and I were visiting our Mum, and we were so sad when we heard the news. We were crying in the snow. In 2006, I piled into a car with my sister, her husband, and Esther and headed up to Art Institute of Boston for Drawing Breath: A Retrospective Whisper, which was a huge Ralph Steadman show.

The postcard flyer for the show

Silent James w/ Cardinal Zin

The show was a comprehensive collection of his school work, ink illustrations for books in the 60's (my favorite of his work), the Big I Am images which were stunning, as well as new work including beverage packaging.

Soon after, Ralph Steadman's book The Joke's Over came out, about his relationship with his friend Hunter S Thompson. He came to the Barnes and Noble bookstore on 6th ave and 22nd st for... not quite a signing, since we all got pre signed book plates... but he did have give a talk and even dressed up as Hunter (cigarette holder and all!). I remember hearing someone banging on the window of the bookstore at one point, but I didn't pay it much attention because I was so mesmerized by seeing Mr. Steadman.

Illustration of Ralph Steadman by Silent James, 2006

I painted this huge watercolor of Ralph Steadman, in the style of one of his favorite artists Goya, and gave it to him. His friend laughed, "He's got more hair than that!" I got to ask Ralph a question during the Q+A, "Hunter always told you not to write, that it would bring shame upon you and your family, and now you've written a book. I'm curious, did Hunter ever draw?"
The room kind of went dead, as is usually the case when I'm given a microphone, and Ralph just said that "Hunter couldn't draw."
He was rushed out by his wife, as people were trying desperately to get him to sign their stuff, and I yelled a big "Thank You!", he stopped in his tracks, turned right to me and yelled, "You're welcome!" It was amazing.

Illustration of my friend Dan Valle, 2014

Dec 2008, I met Dan at Kenka near Saint Marks and we had a great night catching up. He told me all about his new band Hollow Jones. Obama just became president. He asked me if I'd like to create some illustrations for him. He was happy and excited. We talked Ralph Steadman and I mentioned I saw him at B+N over a year ago and he told me it was him banging on the window. He said he saw something was going on but had to run.

A few days after Valentine's Day 2009, I received an email out of the blue from my friend Sasha that Dan Valle died in a bike accident on the Williamsburg Bridge.

Ghost Bike for Dan Valle at South 5th between Driggs and Roebling

A kind artist made a Ghost Bike for Dan. I went to the funeral in Howell, NJ. At first I was crippled by this devastation, but I began painting his picture every year, which I found very therapeutic. I learned to accept death and become death positive years later thanks to mortician Caitlin Doughty and the Order of the Good Death. Dan's birthday is on April 6th, this year I spent it listening to Tragedy (one of Dan's favorite bands) and flying home from the east coast.

2005-2006 College Work

I still like some of the work I created during this time, it has charm and energy. These drawings were done on blue paper from direct observation of the models. Mia Paloma Sorada was among the best, I called this one Waiting For Him.

Conversely, here is Waiting For Her. I don't remember his name, but they were both great models. I used a quill, brush and an awesome retractable multi-colored ballpoint pen I got from Japan. Drawing live really does add so much. These were done in Karen Santry's class, she had fun, elaborate setups.

This caricature of Owen Wilson was made to market my work to the NY Times. I like this, even though it is in such a generic editorial style. My friends thought it was funny I chose to draw him, but I loved him in Zoolander.

My friend Jason Raish and I were among the 10 finalists in the Dave Chappelle's Block Party Poster Contest. This would have worked much better if I was allowed to do a landscape composition, but I really love all the likenesses here. This was the first in a series of renaissance homage paintings I would create.

My favorite: Jack Nicholson's Joker! Since seeing Batman in the theatre in 1989, I have thought about the Joker every single day of my life. I began experimenting with spray backgrounds a la Ralph Steadman. You mix a batch of watercolor in a spray bottle, mask the areas you don't want the spray on using frisket film, then go to town! It adds a quality and directness that is missing when you piece the background together (like the block party background).

"That obscene giggle!" I love the film Amadeus, and created this large scale watercolor. I remember this was the first piece I framed with acrylic instead of glass, I was happy how light it was but it was prone to collecting dust and scratches. Amadeus and the Joker were given to my older sister.

I took my portfolio to every magazine and newspaper, it was a grueling and frustrating process. Most of the art directors would not meet with me in person and I had to leave it with the mail room. I'm sure they never even looked at them because I installed a trap to tell if it had been opened.

I met with Steven Heller from the NY Times, he flipped through quickly and mumbled something about my work being a "Chinese Menu". He went on and on about a drawing I did of Elvis, he loved the expression and the technique. I met with him again 6 months later and he honed in on that same drawing of Elvis and spent the entire time telling me how much he didn't like it.