Can anyone become an artist?
So this guy Donny Johnson is 46 years old, and is serving three life terms in solitary confinement. He’s been convicted of murder and of slashing a prison guard’s throat. So he’s violent AND he’s been locked up, all alone, all day long, for 20+ years, with little chance of parole. He hasn’t touched another person in 17 years. He’s also an artist. First, he made a brush out of his own hair, plastic wrap and tin foil: Then, he made paint. He puts a little water into grape jelly packets and drops in M&Ms. After a while he fishes out the chocolate part and then uses the colored water to create postcard-sized works of art like this: A gallery in Mexico recently showed 25 of his pieces, and sold six of them ($500 each). Some people think his work looks like Spin-Art, but I think they’re missing the point. A think this is the most brilliant, sad, hopeful and hopeless stories I’ve ever heard. On the one hand, the guy is a cold-blooded killer who may always live in solitary confinement. On the
