Khaled Momani
“Self portrait - Bussitwydopen”
Cheap crayola Watercolor/ on 8.5X11 paper that wasn’t made for watercolor. It’s sprayed with a layer of acrylic sealer so thick I contemplated shortening this message to say it was a tile.
 
"It’s me with flowers coming out of where my head was busted open. That was my first near death experience so I reference it a lot. This was the first of two watercolor paintings I made. I ended up liking acrylic more.
 
When I started painting I was living in Oakland, in an unhappy marriage. COVID happened, my mom had cancer all the way in Houston and I was giving in to the thought that she might go before I ever saw her again. I accepted it as reality long before it happened. I didn’t know who I was anymore and I was grieving what I thought was a loss. My ex wife gave me paint for Christmas so I could paint her flowers. I painted for myself instead. I learned to use every kind of paint I had. I painted on all my canvases, used all my notebooks and I started painting on all the furniture. Eventually I got divorced, quit my dead end job, literally starved for months until I got where I wanted to be. There were some insane detours. Like bro I had to wrestle a wild donkey so an Emirati Sheikh would believe that I could draft a building. 
 
I’m like soft and shit in real life, but I’ve got an intimidating pointy face and thick eyebrows. I don’t understand gendering inanimate things that I enjoy doing. I was bitter about everything before I embraced who I was. I ignored my needs. I smoked and tried to drown out my brain looking for a quick fix for the constant cognitive dissonance.  I don’t care what my painting sells for. I know it’s my own face, that’s why I’d never put it for cheap. I really hope it gets stolen.  I priced it at $3000 dollars because if it ever does get stolen I want the person who steals it to appreciate it enough to commit a felony. "
 
$3,000
@afungiclub