Blog / 2020 / For Your Safety, Because Pandemic
June 14, 2020
Living among hardcore Trump supporters, you tend to develop coping mechanisms, and living among them during the reign of COVID-19 has forced me to explore whole new strategies for deflecting their cruelty, including designing these face masks.
These candid face coverings will probably not get anti-maskers to wake up to all the harm they are doing. Believe me: I know that. I also acknowledge that I will probably never have the courage to wear these masks—in Trumpland, 45’s supporters are very aggressive even when you are not specifically trying to poke them.
Still, I know plenty of anti-Trumpers who have forgotten that we wear a mask not to protect ourselves, but to protect everyone else. I suspect that you might also know some people like this. If you want to give them a colorful reminder, then these masks are for you!
For Your Safety and Because Pandemic mark the first time I’ve painted something with the specific intention of uploading it to my print-on-demand shop. I usually make the art I am going to make, and then figure out if it would look good on t-shirts or pillows as an after-thought.
But this was the perfect time for me to work on my word art skills. I have spent the last few weeks wrapping up my ABC paintings and then laying out the book so that I could send it to the printer. These mask designs acted as a kind of reset for my studio practice as I wait for the Baby Sees ABCs proof to make its way back to me.
If you want to be notified when the ABC book is available, sign up for my mailing list!
UPDATE
March 13, 2022
For Your Safety and Because Pandemic were available in my Redbubble shop, but I removed them because research indicates that N95 masks are what we really need to protect ourselves from airborne viruses.
Art is 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. Please share my work with your favorite people!
Maybe this post made you think of something you want to tell me? I’d love to hear from you.
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