"The Garden of Pharmaceutical Delights" is a painting that I finished in August of 2009. It is oil on canvas, and measures 40" high and 30" wide.
One day, I was looking through some nick-knacks and tchockies at the apartment of my then-girlfriend (and current wife). At one point I found an alarm clock, which consisted of the little figure of a purple, grinning ape holding a clock that was as large as he was. This particular piece was given to my wife by some doctor she used to work for, and was an advertisement for a prescription drug, the name and purpose of which escapes me at the moment.
"Holy shit!" I thought, "They're making up cartoon characters to sell drugs now!!" I guess "they" have been doing that for a long time (we all remember Joe Camel), but every once in a while I actually take notice of some of the wacky things advertisers do (most of the time it all blends into a consistent, non-descript hum in the background), and am struck by how creepy it all can be. I notice this a lot when I am in grocery stores. I don't have children myself, but it's not hard to imagine a parent's lament as I amble down the cereal aisle, beset on both sides by variations of maniacally grinning toucans and whacked-out extreme-sports grizzly bears, preying on childrens' susceptibility to loud colors and fun-looking characters in order to hock an array of sugar-frosted, honey-combed, berry-slathered, wheat-infused, cookie-bombed breakfast fun. It seems so cynical. Looking at the cereal aisle, one can see first-hand the millions of dollars these manufacturers have invested to make sure the visual elements of their packaging conforms to a precise formula that instantly attracts kids. Children, in turn, will pester their worn-out parents into buying the cereal, and Kellogg moves product. The alarm clock I found amongst my wife's stuff made me feel about pharmaceuticals something similar to what walking down the cereal aisle makes me feel about childrens' breakfast foods. I pretty much knew the moment I found the clock that I wanted to use it in a piece of art in some manner.
