Etch A Sketch Artist Draws Controversy
JANUARY 16, 2008
LOS ANGELES (TNA) – Some toys are synonymous with a good, wholesome American childhood: Silly Putty, the Slinky, and, of course, everyone’s favorite juvenile drawing device, the Etch A Sketch.
Yet there’s one 26-year-old Californian, who prefers to be known only by the nom de toy The Etch-A-Sketchist, who is taking the play-thing to new, and often controversial, heights.
The Etch-A-Sketchist The infamous 'Don't Tase Me Bro!' incident that took place in Gainesville, Florida, in September, 2007, takes on new pathos when depicted on an Etch A Sketch.
The Etch-A-Sketchist maintains a blog at www.etchasketchist.blogspot.com where he posts his many creations. They’re sketches that he feels deliver where other Etch A Sketch artists come up short.
“I won't name names, because I have great respect for all the knob-twiddlers, but there's a lot of cheezy, boring Etch A Sketch art out there,” The Etch-A-Sketchist says. “I draw the cool stuff that other people shy away from.”
Chances are, the good people at Ohio Art, the company that has been producing the toy for more than 45 years now, never expected to see images like, say, Peter Tosh surrounded by marijuana plants, gracing their tiny screens.
Not to mention the likenesses of Fidel Castro, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the public relations department at the Ohio Art Company failed to immediately respond to numerous email and phone messages seeking comment for this story.
The irony is not lost on The Etch-A-Sketchist, who admits, “I like the juxtaposition of the toy aspect of the Etch A Sketch with the images.”
Not all of his works are so provocative. He has done a wide array of drawings, with a particular emphasis on portraits, many of which are done from personal pictures sent in to him by his readers.
More often than not, though, he’s creating sketches of more recognizable figures.
The Etch-A-Sketchist Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
“I particularly like doing ‘boogey men’: Easy-E, Osama Bin Laden, Karl Marx, Janet Jackson's boob. Images that are supposed to scare and shock white, middle America,” he says. “Put it in a childish context, on an Etch A Sketch, and they lose their edge; it's harder to be scared of them.
“And the fact that the medium is sort of anti-monumental, disposable, erasable, it's sort of saying, ‘Don't worry, these too will pass from history and memory. You may find them disturbing now, but soon they will be erased, and replaced.’”
Of course, not everyone has his same laidback attitude.
The Etch-A-Sketchist reports getting his fair share of negative feedback.
“I did Johnny Cash giving the finger to the camera, and one guy didn’t really like that,” he says. “He was sort of an old guy: likes Johnny Cash, doesn’t like middle fingers.”
Even the positive comments can be rather unnerving: “With (the sketch of) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,” he says, “I got some Iranian guy, the one comment on Flickr, saying, ‘God bless him’ or whatever.”
Then there are the comments that what he’s doing is a pastime that would only be entertained by someone with an overabundance of time on their hands. Others, conversely, praise him for his creative abilities.
The Etch-A-Sketchist downplays his artistic side, however, insisting, “I think of myself more as a blogger than as an artist.”
Considering his chosen subject matter, he might have a point. As fellow Etch A Sketch artist David Roberts puts it, “He's drawn pretty much everything, but the majority of his artwork deals with the hottest social events.
The Etch-A-Sketchist The Etch-A-Sketchist says he can do a drawing in less than 40 minutes.
“If your face ends up on the news, chances are you will also show up on the Etch -A-Sketchist's little red box.”
Roberts adds that The Etch-A-Sketchist’s works are “intriguing, and always the start of an interesting conversation.”
The Etch-A-Sketchist seems less sure about what his greater purpose, or message, is with these drawings.
“When I get all my thoughts in order, I'll come out with an Etch-A-Sketchist Manifesto someday,” he promises.
At least one thing is for sure: When you’re posting a new drawing every weekday, it can take some serious brainstorming to keep that little box filled.
In addition to coming up with his own ideas, often while surfing the Web, he willingly takes reader suggestions, though he has turned down at least one pitch.
“One guy wanted me to do a famous picture of Mischa Barton’s ex-boyfriend’s balls,” he reports. “I wasn’t interested in looking at his balls for as long as it would take to Etch A Sketch them. I declined.”
He was more receptive to a suggestion from the editors at The Portland Mercury, an alternative weekly newspaper in Portland, Ore.
“I used to live in Portland, and I asked their blog what it would take to get linked to my Web site, and they said, ‘Draw a picture of a naked girl reading the magazine.’ So I did, and I got a permanent link,” he says.
He’s well aware of how important these more eye-catching pieces can be when it comes to engaging new visitors to his site, saying, “I have about a week's worth of images on the front page and I like at least one to be a bit of surprise.
“So people will be going along enjoying just the technique and the skill it takes to do a good portrait, and then they'll stumble on the ‘Don't Tase Me Bro’ guy [the University of Florida student who recently became an Internet celebrity after being Tased at a John Kerry talk] and, hopefully, their interest will be piqued, and they'll want to dig through the archives and see what other fun little treasure I have in store.”
It’s hard to believe when you look at some of what he’s able to create on the device – especially when considering that the average sketch takes him no longer than 40 minutes or so to complete – but The Etch-A-Sketchist has only been at this for a mere seven years.
While on a road trip with his family, the then 19-year-old competed against his sister to see who could create the most impressive drawing using the Etch A Sketch. He won.
The Etch-A-Sketchist Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake as you've never seen them before.
It wasn’t long before he realized that his newfound skill was valuable for something more than mere familial bragging rights.
“I have used the Etch A Sketch to get laid,” he confesses. “It was a ploy to get girls back to my room; I used to do portraits and stuff in college. And it was successful, my girlfriend of quite a long time, I hooked up with her after doing a portrait [of her].”
The Etch-A-Sketchist has, however, largely avoided using his talents with the toy to seek monetary gains.
This despite the fact that there is a growing market for the works that the small handful of Etch A Sketch artists in the world can produce at will.
Many remove the aluminum powder from inside the toy, after they’re done drawing on it, in order to render their work permanent and ready for a gallery wall.
“I’m philosophically opposed to drilling,” he says. “I prefer to keep them toys for kids to play with. I don’t like the idea of pretending it’s a canvas that you can sell. It seems wrong to me. But I do make the occasional exceptions, if you’ll pay me enough.”
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