ROLL REVERSAL 2020 – Art Innovation In A Global Pandemic

2020. Those four numbers strung together evoke thoughts of chaos, fear, uncertainty and a hoard of other thoughts and emotions that most of us would just rather forget. I remember seeing a meme of Will Ferrell beneath a picture of the world on fire as he was screaming “does anybody want to buy a painting” that about summed it up for me.

When the world was unexpectedly shut down, like many others, all my work shut down in an instant. My studio closed, my employees were gone. Any contracts I had went into Force Majeure and ended. I remember sitting alone at my shop with a thousand mile stare, trying to understand what to do next. The result was similar to the feeling of forgetting a word, or someones name, and trying to force your mind to produce the answer – and nothing happens.

As I was returning home I stopped at the grocery store for some things we needed. I was covered head to toe in multiple masks, gloves, goggles, Air Pods and a hoodie over my head. Like most people, I looked insane with no real firm grasp on what was going on in the world. I grabbed a shopping cart and as I passed the isles of bare shelves, I got what I could and when home. After disinfecting the few products I was actually able to get, I thought to myself, I need to do something.

If I could make a painting special, something relatable and distracting in a good way, what would it be? A few moments later, I had an idea. I asked my daughter, “Piper, what’s the most precious and sought after “leaf” in the world today? But something I can actually get my hands on, to use to make a piece of artwork?” Gold? Silver? Platinum? No. None of those. In fact, The most precious “leaf” I could use at that moment in time was… Toilet paper.

Yes, Toilet Paper. As we watched people on TV, and online, empty the shelves of toilet paper from stores around the world, it became clear that it was the most precious “leaf” in the world at that time. Each little white square was now worth as much as, or more than gold.

Good luck finding any they would say. People were actually selling rolls of it on Ebay for outrageous amounts of money. Acquiring all the precious metals I work with all at once seemed like an easier task than trying to find toilet paper during a pandemic. 

Oddly enough, a friend of mine actually encouraged me to go buy some two weeks before the stockpiling chaos started. I got a few bundles extra not really knowing why. Glad I did. Although, I needed to make a big decision now – use the TP for what its really for, or use it to make artwork? I went with artwork!

The theme became titled, “ROLL REVERSAL.”

The specific brand of toilet paper I used was a big secret back then, but the cats out of the bag now – for everybody wondering, I used Soft “Angel Soft” (two-ply). I liked the texture and pattern on it. The problem was, it was too thick to get it to lay flat enough on the boards I use. So I had to separate the two-ply by hand, and try a one-ply version instead. It worked out much better. I sized (time sensitive glue) one of my boards, then applied the individual sheets of toilet paper one by one and voila!

It was then sealed and varnished affixing the TP onto the board. It was then lightly sanded and varnished and sanded once again. After getting it relatively flat, but not loosing the texture and pattern of the TP, it was time for some kind of artwork.

With everything going on in the world, I wanted to keep the layout and art simple and calming. On a 28×22 board, I went with a couple branches and flowers with a semi silhouette of a humming bird flying in between. I re-applied more sizing for the flower petal areas and went with a Pure Gold Leaf for all the flower petals, as well as the tail feathers of the hummingbird. Sealed it again a few more times and varnished it. Done. I had a nice frame made for it. Problem is what do I do with it? Is anyone even going to like it or get it? 

So Piper made a short video of me at home trying to explain it and we put the video on our Social Media platforms advertising it for sale. I wondered if I should just try to sell the one I had or offer more than one? We were becoming in need of resources and by faith decided to offer thirty of them. Which also would include a smaller 10×8 similar companion TP piece. So when all was said and done, it was a two-piece set. I was concerned that doing a limited edition size of thirty was still too many, should it be five or ten instead? I mean the world is in shock, not shopping for art. In the end, we stuck with our gut with thirty. I would still need to make and paint each one purchased from scratch, as they were full paintings. The video went up early in the day on Facebook. All thirty paintings ended up selling out by the end of that same day!

It was so exciting for us as we lifted a big thank you Jesus! And to all the people that purchased one, and supported our family and the furtherance of my work during such a wild time – patrons and friends, we say a heartfelt thank you!