Artwork / Everything’s Fine
When a deadly airborne virus whose longterm impact is still to be determined has taken over the world, hugging becomes a risk. When systemic racism and misogyny remain as all-pervasive as ever, connecting feels impossible. And when the political divide is no longer between left and right, but between democracy and xenophobic authoritarianism, people have a hard time remembering that we’re far more similar than we are different.
Amidst all the divisions, art is a necessity, just like air, water, food, shelter, and health care. It’s the love of other humans made tangible across space and time. When a person can’t get a hug from a friend, art is there to make them feel seen and understood. It opens them up to new worlds, helping them to get outside of their own narrow experience, allowing them to become better and more loving.
And that’s only more true when it’s art about mental health. With Everything’s Fine, I want to make it clear that I know that everything’s not. I don’t want anyone to think they’re the only one struggling with anxiety, depression, or trauma.
These images are a starting place. “I feel like this,” you might say, pointing to one in particular. You could use a postcard of the painting as a bookmark or a digital image as a smartphone background—private reminders that at least one other person, AKA me, has felt like you.
You might even use your favorite image as a profile pic or hang a poster where everyone can see it on your next video call. You can speak through these paintings. Instead of struggling to find the right words, these artworks can help you show others how you feel.
Or maybe they can help you figure out how to describe what’s going on in your head. They might be the beginning of a conversation and a path to a better balance in your life. Maybe these paintings will inspire you to make your own art about what you’re going through.
However you use it, Everything’s Fine is meant to belong to you as much as it belongs to me. That’s true of all my work—I place all my images directly in the public domain, free for use by anybody for any reason, without asking permission first—but it’s especially true of this project. These images were designed with you in mind, both because I need to feel like I’m not alone and because I want you to feel that connection as well.
High school art lesson plan!
In this lesson, students will create images along the lines of the paintings in this series, communicating who they are and how they feel about the world through surreal self-portraiture.
Take a quick look at the lesson plan here or download the PDF.
Thank you to everyone who’s supporting this project!
After running a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the work, I’m in the process of turning these paintings into a coloring book.
My blog is the best place to find updates about the project—you can sign up to receive emails whenever I put up a new post.
Everything’s Fine has been exhibited twice in New Jersey: at the Passaic County Arts Center in Hawthorne in May 2023 and at the Princeton Public Library in September 2023.
