Picture it…

Picture it: St. Louis. 2019. I have a dream about creating larger than life images of The Golden Girls. Four years later, I actually do it. See the post at the top of this image for proof.

I originally planned this as a mural but it never launched. So I decided to just take the paint into my own hands and make what I wanted to make without any place to display it. Yet.

I’m sure there’s a venue out there — St. Louis or not — that has the wall space and would like to have these lovely ladies on display under their roof. If so, just shoot me a message.

So why The Golden Girls? First, they’re hilarious. Second, the show came about in the era of the monoculture, and I watched the show first-run on NBC as a kid. Third, and the most important, is what the girls in the show represent: chosen family.

It’s about the familial bonds that we form with our closest friends. The people we love and trust. Finding families after we’ve moved out of their homes or after we have outlived loved ones. Life is long for the lucky ones, and over that time, we will get to love and be loved by a number of people.

Fourth, the show dared to take on topics that other shows wouldn’t. Its progressive episodes hold up shockingly well. Much of the cast and crew had a diverse background especially regarding the LGBT community. A number of episodes center around this topic, most of which are deftly handled in the middle of the AIDS crisis. And that’s to say nothing of its other wonderful episodes about racism, antisemitism, STDs, sex positivity, misogyny, and women’s health.

The show is a big deal to me. So that’s why I made these available as, well, really big pieces. Maybe they’ll have a display home eventually, maybe not. Doesn’t matter to me. I found that I live my life best when I live it at my most grateful.

And what better way to express gratitude than pieces that say, more than anything else, “thank you.”

Thank you for being a friend.