The common expression I get from this piece involves a combination of raised eyebrows and a slightly agape jaw. The common sentence I get from this piece from others is either “Oh my goodness” and or “What does Disney think of this”. I should say, first and foremost, this painting has no hidden meaning and there is no agenda whatsoever in the statement. There is however a history to it, which I will explain below.
Now while I’ve been a painter, and thats what my skill set is in , I have held careers that are quite the opposite of that. I double majored in business, and used that end of my degree to work in the corporate side of things. I was in accessory buying at Amazon.com, production management in the music industry, and as of 2008, I got offered a job in category licensing (marketing/procurement). Specifically I worked in the Health and Beauty sector at Disney, managing relationships with our licensees, sales teams, and brand management. It ranged from the steady peg fillers as Oral-B toothbrushes, down to the ultra glamorous MAC Villains campaign.
For the most part my art was always separate. I’d crunch numbers in the daytime in my jobs, and come home and paint. My shows were generally at street level and catered to the cabaret, drag, and nightlife crowd. They were mildly successful in their own microcosm (World of Wonder Gallery, Hollywood), but never near the level that Disney artists had. I’d walk the hallways and see these great renditions of Mickey by Trevor Carlton and Mike Kungl in the corporate hallways, and aspire that one day I’d be at that level.