My drawings are decorative patterned drawings of figures engaged in hedonistic, violent, non-sensical, or self-destructive activities. They were originally inspired by the many old detective radio programs from the 1940’s and 1950’s. Regardless of the show, there was always the good guy and his partner (who was frequently a girlfriend or his secretary), one or more bad guys, a beautiful “dame” who “just walked into the room”, and at least one or more characters with thick Brooklyn accents.
My re-occurring character however is not a detective. He is just a loser named Bob. Bob eats too much, drinks too much, and suffers from a lack of self-esteem. He has tried to kill himself on several occasions, but he has even botched that. Most people hate him and some have attempted to kill him. Were it not for his young Swedish girlfriend, Helga, he would have nothing except for his nice wardrobe.
Helga is a seventeen-year-old orphaned schoolgirl, who cleans houses after school. Leaving the apartment of a neighbor of Bob's after a cleaning job, she intervened at the just the right time to prevent him from hanging himself. She saw Bob through a crack in the loser’s front door just as he kicked the chair out from underneath himself. Out of consideration for his neighbors, Bob had left the front door ajar, so that his body would be found and his corpse wouldn't stink up the building. Helga raced in and caught Bob at the very moment the rope played itself out. She revived him and Bob now only suffers from occasional black outs, some vertebrae problems, and a very, very long tongue that he has trouble keeping in his mouth. Since this event, however, Helga and Bob have been inseparable and their romance has blossomed.
Bob's luck even seems to have changed now and he has a hobby. He and Helga attend Wild West reenactments in America, Europe, and Japan and he has become quite good at twirling two six-guns at the same time thus gaining the admiration of other fans of the sport. Bob and Helga sing Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans songs on karaoke night at the V.F.W. every Wednesday night. Bob plays the guitar and Helga yodels.
