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As a kid I really loved the 1960s in fact I was all about the 1960s! I collected record albums and learned every word of every song that was on the vinyl discs. I was living in Michigan and by the time I was in high school I was the guy that was obviously still living the 1960s, as I proudly wore awesome colorful shirts like people wore at the Woodstock celebration. In 12th grade I started drawing all over my blue jean pants and eventually started painting them as well. I wore a bandana on my head with three other colorful bandanas tied to it hanging down, another bandana tied around my arm with a bandana hanging down from that, and another set of bandanas tied onto my leg. When I walked, the color and the flow of fashion was in motion for sure!
I reflect back on those days and wonder what I was thinking at the time. Look at me and the image I was creating for myself. I was an artist and I just wanted everybody to see that I loved to have fun and loved to just be me. Forwarding time to myself being a parent with my own two kids, I went back and applauded my parents for allowing me to have this look without them resisting against it, but at the same time genuinely apologized to them for me being such a terd and being this colorful person wether they liked it or not. Those high school days created many amazing memories for me, but at the same time that colorful image led down to a path of partying too much, and I am really glad that I survived the over amount of partying my friends and I did at that time. Hmmmm lets look at the drawings on the dragon pants… Theres the peace sign, mushrooms, Bar sign, Strohs beer can, word Cocaine (which I was allergic to), Pot leaf, bowl with tequila worm, martini glass, Woodstock symbol, grapes for wine, Love, and on and on and on. Phew those were the days! I really love the dragon pants and still have them. So even though this was the beginning of the 1980s, understand what society was presenting at this time to everybody. The billboards along the roads, TV commercials, and magazine advertisements were mostly showing alcohol, beer, and cigarettes. On the TV shows and movies everybody was drinking and smoking. In the back of the magazines in advertisements anybody could purchase “caffeine” pills which were actually different forms of speed. Free love movement was fizzling out. Marijuana grew in the ditches in Michigan called ditch weed. Michigan was full of crabapple trees which mescaline and acid was created from. Of course Arizona has Peyote and mormon tea plants. My dad made wine and there was a cordial bottle in each bathroom in case you felt sick, alcohol was the remedy. My dad was not a alcoholic but actually a Chemical Engineer that made wine as a side hobby. He was quite brilliant on his own remedies of cures through the alcohol science. As my kids were growing up I didn’t hold back, and genuinely explained my teenage world to them and told them the many stories about my high school years. It is amazing what a little 12 year old already knows, as the parent just thinks only innocent eyes are looking back at them. My kids grew up without the need to explore drugs, even though I, like my dad, placed a few bottles of schnapps in the fridge for them to enjoy. The dragon blue jean pants were drawn/painted in 1981 and the blue jean pants with the flowers painted on them were made in 1982. On one of the legs of the flower pants is a road with a sign saying “Welcome to Arizona.” The spirit world continued throughout my life from 5 years old to 22 years old informing to me my life will begin once I get to Arizona. I graduated from high school in 1982. |
MK Dragon Pants - 10/1981
MK Flower Pants - 3/1982Flowers were painted with house paint. Wow these pants had it all! Jimi Hendrix, "Behind Blue Eyes" for The Who, ZOSO represents life after death but all four Led Zeppelin band members symbols, Pink Floyd, Bacardi rum bat symbol, some amazing detailed art, the all seeing eye, Woodstock symbol, peace sign, 714 represents qualudes or horse tranquilizers which were popular at that time, and a love note to my girlfriend Stephanie! Most importantly was the road with the sign saying welcome to Arizona.
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Jimi Hendrix jean jacket
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Many of my friends really liked the Jimi Hendrix Jean Jacket and would bring me their jean jackets for me to paint for them. I painted a bunch of jackets in 1985.
Steve Miller Band
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Grateful Dead
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AC / DC
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Alvin Lee and Ten Years After
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Iron Maiden
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Y & T - Mean Streak album
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Cobra Rattlesnake Jean pants
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Once I arrived in Arizona summer 1986, I wanted to recreate my dragon pants in a Arizona theme being a imaginary cobra rattlesnake. The idea was that the snake is ripping through at my knee, and overall the snake comes out of a crunched Budweiser beer can. Little gnomes with fun hats are enjoying a kegger party. The snake overall was a challenge to paint, but most of my concentration went into perfecting the crunched Budweiser beer can.
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