GARDENfresh

David Lowman

STOIC SWINE TIMELINE...

1976: i am born in a small kansas town (there is a big jail there). When i squirt out of my mother's birthing-hole the doctor catches one glimpse of my big brown eyes and declares: "this ones a keeper".

1980: eight years after his time in the vietnam war my father decides to become a lutheran minister. he will raise me through a convergence of drill sergent command and good ol' fashioned christian repression.

1984: my mother makes me a sparkly white glove so i can be like my idol: michael jackson.

1981: like any good, red-blooded american boy, i start making stick figure war doodles. these are collaborative efforts with fellow classmates that turn performative when one blows-up the opposition's fortress. loud mouth sounds become explosions as you rip apart the paper utilizing stabbing pencil gestures.

1987: my cubscout leader's dog mauls my head. i go through extensive reconstructive surgery to put my face back together. this is my introduction to disfiguration... Stoic Swine is born.

1992: i touch a bare female breast for the very first time. it is soft and squishy. i enjoy the process very much.

1996: i turn on. despite repeated warnings, i look into a mirror and discover three equal selves: 1.child-me 2.bunny-me 3.cop-me. i'm scared of all three and close my eyes and listen to spiritualized.

2001 (spring): i receive a masters of fine art from a shitty school in southern illinois. for my last independent study class i ride my bike 1200 miles in a hot-pink spandex bunny suit visiting children in hospitals.

2001 (fall): some buildings fall down after planes fly into them. i flip a coin the next day and end up in the corner of the country taking refuge in the danky woods of the northwest.

2001 (winter): i retire from making images.

2005: i start a band called the hopscotch boys. we sing songs about whores, insomnia and incestuous cults.

2006: i turn thirty and my hair starts thinning.

2007: i come out of retirement from making images. decide it's a good idea to make some big, fucked-up drawings like i use to in the good ol' days.

I UNRAVEL IN THE PLIGHT TO SEEK THE FACE OF GOD...AS I MAKE SHIT.