This is me at the opening of the "Tribal" group show at the tart gallery way back in... 1998 was it? Anyway, I'm pointing at my work, "Tribal Salaryman", one of my earliest paintings, of a heavily scarred, tattooed and pierced managerial white collar worker. I was really trying to comment on how ubiquitest and banal that these so-called symbols of non-conformity had become. A surprising amount of people asked me if this was a portrait of someone real. Me, I can't get a tatto, piercing or nothin', sensitive skin you see. I get rashes from shirts, band-aids and glue. I have rashes on my fingers that are pretty much chronic. Also I cannot grow a beard or any decent amount of facial hair. When I was a kid I wanted sideburns like Michael Nesmith of the Monkees when I grew up.

It makes me sad.