BEFORE BREENING
AFTER BREENING
Text says,‘Text says,‘The fish I’ve killed share my head…They have nowhere else to go!’ ‘Acrylic on oil? on canvas about 9.75″X 11.75″
I use to fish obsessively. I fished in fresh water for decades, goin’ bassin’, crawling the plastic worm over the lily pads til it plopped down to a waiting lunker, who, if I was lucky, would tail dance across the water. Then we moved next to the ocean and I got a boat. I’d wake up my still drunk friends at 2 am and force march them to the boat. We went out that early to gillnet pogies, 10 inch fish that we caught to use for bait. We used them to catch bigger fish, stripers, which then had to be 3 foot or more to keep.
Anyway, after a number of years of this, I started to feel sorry for the fish. You haul a 3 foot striper into your boat and his heart is beating, his gills are flexing, and his eyes are scared wild! It’s our nature to fish and eat fish, but I’ve lost the heart for it.
When I saw this original I thought of European cave paintings, of honoring the fish we hunt. Then, as I began to muse and remember the fish I killed, I figured my head should be there with them on the canvas, so they could swim around my brain. Boo hoo hoo! I mourn you! You were so delicious though!
What Year Is It? This Artist May Still Be Alive! 
Anonymous
/ December 2, 2005Fishing
Haven’t you heard of catch and release? Paint on!
eddiebreen
/ December 2, 2005Re: Fishing
Yeah, torture and release. The more they dislike it and fight, the more pleasurable it is. I thrill to the catch, the fight, the taildance, like anyone else – but it is still torture. Whatever, this is a personal statement concerning just me, I see both sides and am teaching my son to fish. Gotta eat in case society implodes.