This “art,” if you can call it that, is just a pair of old Levis that I painted on with acrylic paints I found in the garage. This piece came to me when I decided one day that I wanted to do something artsy and I saw this pair of jeans lying under my bed. I originally just did the little cat, but I felt it was too plain, so I added the skull laughing flames and the quote. My inspiration came from a mixture of punk rock styles of the 70s and graffiti. I’ve always liked the music and fashion of this era, so I applied their influences with my own cartoonish spin.
The laughing skull is inspired by some art done by Luke Pelletier for RVCA. His work is quite colorful and isn’t all that punk, but I liked it. I wanted him to be laughing flames because of the volume and ferocity at which I myself laugh. Ask my friends about it, or just listen closely for a hyena in the student union.
The cat is entirely of my own fruition. It’s just a symbol that I like to draw, like a signature. I call him R.O.S., which stands for “Remains of Schrodinger.” This is in reference to Schrodinger’s thought experiment involving a cat that is both simultaneously dead and alive. The experiment goes like this: a cat is put in a box with a capsule of poisonous gas. The gas has a 50% chance of being released and killing the cat, and a 50% chance of it not going off and the cat surviving. The boxed is closed so that one can’t tell if it is dead or alive, while in this state it is both dead and alive. Only when one opens the box is it decided whether the cat is dead or alive. Moral is, don’t tell PETA.
The quote next to the flames is based off some artwork for the song “I’m Scum” by the British punk band Idles. It reads as follows: “If it’s laugh or cry, I cry laughing.” This quote isn’t super “deep” or anything, but it’s just stating that I try not to take things too seriously. I try to make light of bad situations instead of crying about them. I’ve actually received a few compliments on these jeans, but I’ve also been called a few names just as much. Whatever, best to just laugh it off.
