In cooperation with the humdrum day to day routine, cliché shows, standard hellos, politics, and advertisements, one goes through the routine simply hoping for something special. Some of us are even so presumptuous as to expect the special something to appear in one specific form, such as a lottery ticket, a love affair, an image in the sky, an unexpected package. We dream of these things and wait for their arrival, expecting these fulfilled wishes to relight something inside, something that may continue to glow this time. But it is the artist we turn to who may transcend the collection of our days into something of a curated work of art. Through their work, the artist takes a giant highlighter across the horizon, across the page in the story of our lives, allowing us to finally see what is unique and right in front of us.

Kevin Strickland (who couldn’t love you more) a painter, graduated from Savannah College of Art & Design from the MFA Painting Program, is one such tireless artist. His most recent exhibit demonstrates the images of what remains of his childhood collection of superhero stickers. In Zero Heroes, the seemingly sentimental paintings are absent of the image of the superhero, as what is left of the collection is the outlining sticker paper and some discoloration from gum, stored with the papers over the years. In this way, the exhibit has the feel of a person, alone, opening a keepsake box, thumbing through mementos of another time, another phase, one’s mind filling in the blanks where the image of a superhero used to show clearly.

This collection of paintings inspired the creation of Maven Dooshe, a Kevin Strickland tribute and mix tape band, whose members take recordings from various situations. Listening to the pieces, one may feel that they are in a crowded room or among friends, everything happening ordinarily, everyday occurrences exhibited as special occurrences. Some of the unpublished recordings can be heard at www.myspace.com/mavendooshe.

Similarly, a fan group of Kevin Strickland, TeamFun!, has also published a collection of stories and art related to Kevin Strickland in a book titled Kevin Strickland couldn’t love you more!, available for purchase through Lulu Marketplace: Comics and Graphic Novels.

You can view the selected images from Kevin Strickland’s collections at www.kevinstrickland.com. Through reflection of this artist’s work and themes, one may find a commemoration to what is. We find “specialism everyday.”