this is my buddy.

there was a time in 2005 when i was going through a breakup with a beautiful woman and mysterious muse. i had a broken heart before this one so the cuts weren't deep but they still triggered a rattling in the heart that made me want to get a fire started, i dove into art. some of the rawest paintings i made were after this breakup and i showed them to the standard hotel in hollywood. i proposed that i would like to have my first art show at their hotel and turn their pool/patio and lobby into a full on art gallery on Feb 13th 2006, theheartfirebreathemanifesto, and i would donate all the proceeds from the sales of the paintings to the charity J.U.I.C.E. Justice by Uniting in Creative Energy, a great charity that gives inner-city youth a place to rap, paint, breakdance, express themselves. I sold every painting. I gave them over a thousand dollars and I felt it was worth it to have a heart break for this. It hurt to say goodbye to someone you would hold and smell and bite and love but it felt good to know that something i could express in paint could be used to help people, especially kids. give give give. it's a good way to live. it was after this breakup or just at the peak of where the damn thing began to crumble that my buddy, popped out from behind a car on that beverly hills block, palm dr., with this mask on and scared the shit out of me. like the kind of scary shit that happens when you're only in your basement and it's pure dark and you can't see and you feel your breath run down your upper lip and hit your chest warmth and it feels like maybe, just maybe somebody else is down there staring at you and waiting to eliminate your whole being. buddy pops out, pulls off his mask, laughs like the clown prince, and says "you did shit your pants though didn't you? this is for you." he gives me the mask and the rest is the life to be lived on screen. thank you buddy. for entering stage left and bringing forth the play of things, for encapsulating these moments as they happened, dreamlike storybook images in a haze of what i remember and love about a path that looks so much like the one you wished for. an adventure of a lifetime. you art machine.

G

photographs by Stephen Dackson, Beverly Hills Buddy, 2005

thank you for the photos and for encapsulating the moment so well, just as i remember it and just as it was lived.

DACKSON/MASKED MAN –36, A mischievous artist with the thickest New York accent you have ever heard. The guiding example for Vinny. He has already become a successful painter on the NY art scene. Discovered by Scotty Vinny's brother, he backs and sells Dackson's work. Dackson leads Vinny to finding his voice as an artist. The closest friend to Vinny and harshfully honest when it comes to art. He has a penchant for big tits, cake, and the F word. When Vinny finds out that the only reason they've been hanging out together is because Scotty supports Dackson's work, their friendship ends in a bitter altercation at razor point. Character based on the artist Paul Gauguin.LEAD.