Special Friends with Special Skills

Again with the beach. This family vacation should probably be known as the “Summer of Energetic Children”, but if I had to pick a second theme it would probably be the “Summer of ‘Special Friends’”. Special friends got climbed on, engaged in a dead jellyfish projectile war, funded a 12-year-old’s gambling habit at a cruddy arcade, and took hole digging orders from 7-year-olds. Indeed, special friends even got nods in the end of vacation toast my cousin John offered on our last night together (“to special friends who tolerated being separated from their special lady while she was volunteered out to braid hair”). Special friends may get some props, but they are forced to put up with family chaos without the binding sense of responsibility and heritage – and they don’t get a proper label - special sounds like they may be retarded.

Matt’s old hat to me (the anniversary of our cohabitation came and went without notice or fanfare) but to most of my family he was a bearded novelty at the week’s start. But this blog is about the other special friend staying at our must-ridden beach house – my cousin Meaghan’s “friend”, Bishop.

The best thing about Bishop, besides the fact that he is an awesome winker, is that he posed in the complete family photo on the beach even though my aunt, Margaret, and cousin, Meaghan, didn’t. My aunt Mary had scheduled one of those professional photographers who take those pictures on the beach where everyone wears khaki pants and nobody wears shoes. But the shoot location was infested with biting files which caused an infestation of weeping children and grouchy baby-boomers and probably produced the most awesome family picture that no one will ever see. My aunt and Meaghan had run back to their car before the full group shot was taken leaving Bishop to stand next to “some guy”.

Ok, whatever, the point of this blog wasn’t to go on about my vacation, it was to say that Bishop, in addition to being a world-class winker and makeshift boogie board, is a really interesting contemporary artist whose pop-y comic and NES inspired work makes me want to paint our entire house in 8-bit color. Maybe, for some of you, it is the kind of work you dismiss as something you could do if you’ve thought of it. Well, I could pee in a mason jar and throw a rosary in there before screwing on the lid, but I wouldn’t be too proud of that, nor would I want to put it on my mantle. I'd put a piece of Bishop's up in a second.

I love Bishop’s work like I love the work of Richmond’s Valdes and Kuszyk – their art doesn’t dissuade thinking or eliminate challenge from art but it doesn’t put itself out there to make you feel like a character in the Emperor’s New Clothes. You know you like it when you see it, it is immediately pleasing like eating candy...but it has badass undertones that make you feel like getting something tattoed and yelling at people from your car. It is also pretty funny.


Give it a look friends, and remember that the artist is also capable of playing a fierce game of air hockey and has great aim when throwing jellyfish at small children.