My new painting...

[Kip]

Four years ago, I met a man who is a pastor and artist. He paints a variety of subjects, largely social issues - domestic/child abuse, etc. One of his common themes are the shoe shine boys found on the streets in the Dominican Republic. These kids are often sent into the streets to earn money around the age of 7-8 years. Many are told not to come back home until they've earned enough money to support the food required to feed them, so they end up spending their childhood on the streets. Him telling me that story the first time I met him planted a persistent soft spot for these kids. Even though I never wear shoes that require a shine, I try to slip them a few pesos every chance I get. Should I ever come up with a good way to add them into this whole missionary thing, I'm on it like white on rice.

He paints many of the boys without faces. He explained to me that he does that as a symbol of how society sees them - just faceless "background noise" in a busy city. They're usually overlooked by the populace, or chased off by the National Police as miscreants. Just offcast human beings. I've carried a picture of some of his paintings ever since the day I met him.

I was re-introduced to him this morning by my friend William. He took me to his house and showed me some of his work. I was able to secure this painting (below), which is the very one I photographed the first time and have shown people ever since. I can't even tell you how happy I am to have this in my home. It's kinda big at about 6 feet tall, but I think Kristi will be OK with it. She's pretty lenient on me (I opted to seek forgiveness rather than permission) . It's actually half of a two-part painting that connected, but the other half is hanging in an exhibit at a gallery and he doesn't know if/when he'll get it back. If he does, I'll own it too.

IMG-20160428-WA0001.jpeg (45.49 KiB) Viewed 2331 times

[IWinchester]

Super cool. Love the color, lines, and subject.

[Stewmuse]

Four years ago, I met a man who is a pastor and artist. He paints a variety of subjects, largely social issues - domestic/child abuse, etc. One of his common themes are the shoe shine boys found on the streets in the Dominican Republic. These kids are often sent into the streets to earn money around the age of 7-8 years. Many are told not to come back home until they've earned enough money to support the food required to feed them, so they end up spending their childhood on the streets. Him telling me that story the first time I met him planted a persistent soft spot for these kids. Even though I never wear shoes that require a shine, I try to slip them a few pesos every chance I get. Should I ever come up with a good way to add them into this whole missionary thing, I'm on it like white on rice.

He paints many of the boys without faces. He explained to me that he does that as a symbol of how society sees them - just faceless "background noise" in a busy city. They're usually overlooked by the populace, or chased off by the National Police as miscreants. Just offcast human beings. I've carried a picture of some of his paintings ever since the day I met him.

IMG-20160428-WA0001.jpeg

Yes, this is a troubling situation. I remember the afternoon we spent in Santiago, seeing one of these boys, and giving him a few pesos. It was clear that he had been living that way for awhile, and when I saw him again about an hour later, he had no (outwardly visible) remembrance of me whatsoever, as if in his life he was just going through the motions, not really being part of his own life. By actions, they probably are "miscreants," but it is hardly of their own volition. I think that in many large cities (very many, if not all), there exists a version of these kids. Poverty and lack of family structure am bad...