Meet An Autistic Artist Creating Prince Tribute Portraits
A few days ago, I saw Pierre Owen’s Prince drawings on Facebook. I was really happy to see them because I’d grown so sick of seeing regurgitated, recycled digital Prince post-death vomit paraphernalia floating up and down my Facebook and Twitter feeds.
I loved Prince too, but there’s something gross about the herd mentality in the digital sphere when someone famous dies. Last week, everyone had forgotten the lyrics to Little Red Corvette, but now everyone has them magically memorized. I haven’t figured out exactly why post-death digital glorification annoys me so much but I believe it’s due to the increasing superficiality and homogenizing of our emotional reactions in the digital world. We’ve become reactive bots, spewing forth the same digital content as everyone else. The sameness sickens me. It reminds me that we’re all becoming robots, whether we want to admit it or not.
I think Nikola Teslas was dead-on when he stated that we are all automatons, to one degree or another, simply reacting to our external environment without much thought.
Back to Prince and the real reason I am writing this…….
I just interviewed Pierre about his fascinating and unique Prince portraits that lightened my day. I first learned about Pierre Owens through a cartoonist friend of mine a few years ago. I saw drawings on Facebook that my friend purchased from Pierre and I was instantly curious. Pierre’s drawings are unique and one can tell that Pierre has a love for creativity. Unlike most artists who self-consciously produce artwork in some genre or another, Pierre creates what he wants, how he wants and he doesn’t worry about how his art is judged. Pierre is also autistic.
Here’s a drawing he did of the fairly famous artist, Peregrine Honig, which is definitely interesting:
Here is the interview with Pierre Owens:
Leah: Why did you draw the first Prince tribute portrait?
Pierre: Someone asked me to draw it.
Leah: What happened after you drew it?
Pierre: Some other guy asked if he could buy it.
L: How much did you sell it for?
P: $30. When I sold that first Prince drawing, I thought to myself, “Hey, I should make some more.”
L: How many more Prince drawings have you made?
P: I’ve done seven others. Today I drew four more.
L: When did you start drawing?
P: 2009
L: How many drawings have you created and how many have you sold?
P: I’ve made around 330 drawings and sold about 80 of them.
L: How do other people describe your art?
P: “That looks great. You did a great job. Mind-blowing.”
L: Do you have an upcoming art show that you’re going to participate in?
P: Yes, it will be at Bauer Machine Works, studio 202, 115 w 18th KCMO 64108
L: Why did you start doing art?
P: Before I became an artist, I had no serious connection to creativity. I was just cutting out stuff from newspapers and magazines. Making art gave me a bright outlook on life and it brought a lot of people to me. It made me into a better person.
L: When I look at your artwork, I assume that you don’t judge your drawings in any sort of way. Do you judge your own artwork?
P: No, I don’t judge it. Whatever I draw, I put it out there. I’ve always been non-judgmental.
L: How many Prince portraits do you think you will draw?
P: I’m probably going to go for one more.
L: I noticed in your Facebook profile photo you’re holding up a sign that says, “I’m Enough”. Can you explain what that means?
P: It signifies all the changes I’ve been through this past year…..all the changes in my art, in my friends, in my weird habits. I’m only human. I’m only one person. I do my best to live life.
L: Do you have anything you want to tell people who read this?
P: No matter what you’ve done, who you are, what your diagnosis is, don’t let them put you down. Always stand up. Always be positive and creative.
To connect with Pierre, contact him on Facebook. That’s where you can buy his Prince tribute drawings, too.
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