As a rule, I don't go around hyping up my Sharpie art. I don't need to. These photos are what I do. It stands on its own. But today I'm making an exception. I am the best Sharpie artist in North Carolina. No one else even comes close. My drawings take 30 to 40 hours each. The Beatles drawing I just did took 50 to 60. I have a two month backlog of work to do. And I'm moving back home to Southern California as soon as I tie up the loose ends here. So if you like my stuff and you want an original, now's the time to buy.
I left a bad living situation just over a year ago, and I came to Winston-Salem with $15, a box of Sharpies, no place to live, and not a single contact in the Trade Street art scene. I lived in a tent in the woods behind Bolton Park (near the mall) for 9 1/2 months. I made a pact with myself not to panhandle, which I've done while homeless in previous years. Instead, I went to an Aldi's store, where you have to put a quarter in to get a shopping cart. I walked up to people in the parking lot, as polite as possible, and asked them, "Hey, I'm out of work, would you let me take that shopping cart back and keep the quarter?" The vast majority of people were cool with that. Moms with small kids actually thanked me. As a matter of course, I pushed carts for people in the handicapped spaces, and really old people, for free. I'd hand them a quarter out of my pocket, and take their cart back as a service. By doing this, which incidentally doesn't break Winston's panhandling ordinance in any way, I was able to buy a bit of food and ride buses all last summer and into the fall. I'd like to thank all those people who let me push their carts, and those who offered a buck or two to help me get by. The artwork in this post and dozens more pieces are the result.
Then, one afternoon last fall, the uniformed police officer working as a security guard at Aldi's on Peter's Creek told me to leave the property as soon as I showed up. So I did. I walked out to the street a couple of buildings over. I took account of my situation. I didn't have bus fare to get back to my campsite. I was hungry. I had a 2 1/2 mile walk ahead of me. And I'm really fat. But I did qualify for EBT (aka food stamps), and I had my card in my wallet. I decided that I would go back into Aldi's, buy something small to eat on my card, and walk right off the property. I honestly thought I was well within my rights to do that. It was not the best decision I've ever made, but I didn't think it was illegal. (Research since then has proved, I was right, it was perfectly legal, according to multiple precedents and case law).
So I did it. I bought a pack of 12 donuts, and the police officer watched me stand in line, buy them, and I walked right by him, out the door, and headed directly towards the parking lot exit. As it turned out, the police officer followed me out, grabbed my shoulder from behind, and I threw my elbow up as a reflex. I was arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest. It was my first arrest in my 51 years on Earth. I spent three days in jail, 23 hours in my cell all three days, without the psych meds I took at the time. On the third night, I got a federal prison inmate, heading back in after a parole violation, thrown in my cell. Not the roommate you want on your first jail stay. As it turned out, we started talking art, and got along fine.
My public defender expected the charges to be dropped, it was a pretty ridiculous arrest by most anyone's standards. But they weren't. As a homeless man, I didn't think I had a chance in hell of beating the case in a trial, just because I was living homeless. So I plead guilty, and took a deal to do 50 hours of community service and pay a $250 fine. I did 19 hours of the community service as I worked all day every day drawing pictures to simply make food money and bus fare. I didn't complete my program, and I went back to court.
I now have a $732 fine and 50 more hours of community service to finish in the next couple of weeks. I don't know about you, but 3 days in jail, 69 hours of community service, and $732 seems like a pretty serious sentence for buying a pack of donuts. Hey, maybe that's just me.
In any case, we'll be raffling off a $100, signed and numbered print of my Dr. Maya Angelou drawing (below) tonight at Designs, Vines, and Wines to help me pay the part of the fine. You're more than welcome to sign up to win the the print, or if you'd like to help me out.
The reason I'm moving back to California as soon as I can is because of things like donut arrest, and the continuous harassment and threats I've endured while being a homeless man trying to build a small business as an artist and writer here in Winston-Salem. There's just too much bullshit here. I'm going to take care of this fine and tie up loose ends, and head back to SoCal, where entrepreneurship and art is actually tolerated.
You can check out my work further back on my blog, by Googling "#sharpiescribblestyle", or on my
Pinterest page. If you like it and want an original, now's the time. I won't have time to draw pictures for people in NC after I get out West.
Have fun at the Hop tonight folks. Oh... and if you're one of the douchebags who was outside my tent on the night of May 14th with a baseball bat, threatening to beat the shit out of me, I'd love to meet you. Come by Designs, Vines, and Wines at 625 Trade in and introduce yourself.
This original drawing will be on display tonight, at 625 Trade, just as it was at the Garden Party to honor Dr. Anglou's 90th birthday in Bailey Park. A full size, 18" X 24" print, one of ten signed and numbered prints, is what we're raffling off.
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