Well, his head was in the way

1996

oil on canvas

16" X 20"

This painting is based on a true story. Once upon a time I was in a local supermarket doing some shopping. This was back when cell phones first were made small. They were somewhat of a luxury item. They were very expensive and more expensive to have service for. A toy for the elite. The only thing more obnoxious than the phones were the users, who rudely screamed into their status symbols in the most inappropriate places.

Anyway, back to the story... I went to the dairy section to get some milk and what did I see? A yuppy on his cell phone asking ( I assume his wife) what kind of milk he should get. So, I'm looking at this 45 year old man thinking, what, did you just start drinking milk? He just wanted to use his toy.

I saw the painting right away. I went home and painted it in five hours.

As you can probably figure out it is a take from the famous image printed in Life Magazine during the Viet Nam War. The Chief of the Siagon police had a Viet Cong prisoner in tow and pulled out a gun and just shot him. The still shows the moment of the impact of the bullet.

So, I was just trying to shoot the phone out of his hand, but was on the wrong side. Thus, the title.

...and I gave him whole milk.