Our friend Patrick King recently called with a request. He received a commission to create a painting of a friend’s boyhood home in Wisconsin, circa early 1970s, and he needed a 12-year-old kid to model. Oh, and a Schwinn banana bike, if we had such a thing kicking around.
We didn’t. But thanks to Ian’s connections in the bike world, an almost perfect two-wheeler was found – in the basement of a shop in Swarthmore. It was green, with a gold glitter-embedded plastic disco-y seat.
Yesterday all of us, except Ian who was hanging out with friends back from college, went to Pat’s South Philly apartment for the shoot. The banana bike was wheeled through the rain and up three flights of industrial stairs. After warming up with cups of chai tea, the photo shoot began.
Malcolm enjoyed the new experience of modeling, which in this case was not difficult or taxing in any way. And he likes the fact that the painting will one day hang in the home of a musician in a band he has heard of – one that recently opened for Pearl Jam. That’s the icing on the cake.
Patrick designed this blog’s banner, and you can see his many amazing paintings in the photos. A graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, he refuses to be pinned down to a narrow category. He’s a painter/musician/graphic designer/clothing impresario (www.typographyshop.com), and as a result, his apartment is, to quote my sons, “awesome.” The nude photos of women on display only added to the charm, I suspect.
Hugh and Malcolm now have new aspirations: to one day have an excellent bachelor pad in the city.