The Rick Chris 2002 Christmas Painting
I completed this painting on Christmas Eve day, 2002. It was created for and was donated to the 8th Annual Design World Cares Art for AIDS Auction which took place on Saturday March 8, 2003, at the Design Center of the Americas, better known as DCOTA in Dania, Florida.
This painting is titled "Unexpected Guests" and it shows a group of friends getting together for some food, drink and to look at some old photo albums on a Christmas Eve, making the yuletide gay. A quiet evening and one guy is even snoozing on a recliner. Yet it seems that they may not be the only ones at their quiet little party. Could it be, like the words from the song - ...faithful friends who are dear to us gather near to us once more…? For those who may be spending the holidays alone or without loved ones, I offer this image as a comfort, a fantasy or invisible reality. The image is a bit more rough and clumsy than I like my paintings to be but I was not really sure where I was going with it when I doing the painting. I think what I was trying to convey with this image was that the strength of love and friendship transcends all and that those who truly love and cherish you will be with you always.
In addition to showing this painting on this web site, I also sent an image of it as an attachment to a Christmas Eve Rick Chris newsletter. I received so many positive comments about the Christmas Eve newsletter and the painting that I may make a Christmas Eve newsletter an annual event. I received more comments about this painting than I have about any other painting I have done. Every single comment was positive with people writing me that they felt the painting brought comfort and the feeling that their loved ones were back with them for the holidays. Some pretty powerful and emotional emails. Once in a great while, it seems, I'm able to do some good and doing this painting may have been one of those times.
In 2003, I received a request from a man to use this image for his Christmas card. What I didn't know was that he wanted the image for a Christmas card that would be the last he would ever send out. Click here.
Here's a few of
the comments:
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From a December
28, 2003 e-mail: This artwork has helped me to focus on and to support social issues that affect the gay community and to rail against the injustices that still criminally affect us. This one piece should be the standard image over the words "Never Again" to remind us all of the Gay Holocaust permitted because of bigotry and religious intolerance. It should galvanize us to stand up to the ignorant and to demand our full rights. |
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From a woman
who lost two of her brothers to AIDS: |
Thank you. This is one of the most touching Christmas images I've ever seen... God Bless You |
| Los
Angeles: Anyway wistful rememberings just gave way to tears but its fantastic. I don't know to what extent it speaks to those say 30 and below in age, but may the acknowledge and be mindful it wasn't so long ago and the spectre still haunts without prejudice.. you have a gift. |
Phoenix: Thank you so much for the news letter, your wonderful wished for the season and the beautiful art work!!!!!! I love this painting and the emotions it brings out at this time of year. The love of those gone and still here!!!!! |
| Germany: I loved the picture you attached - it is very moving indeed. You have captured the also present friends beautifully. |
New
York State: This is a very very moving tableau... It saddens, but it also enlightens... to know that our departed are still with us it is a good thing to always remember |
| Also I realy like the new picture "Unexpected Guests" it reminds of the people who are gone but never forgoten.Thank you for the good memoreies. | Germany: It is a very unique and extreme unusual concept to show our deceased friends and lovers are not forgotten and still with us. Never saw something similar before. |
| San
Diego: Thank you so much for the newsletter; your painting was shattering to say the least. It is extraordinary. The right side of the painting, where the one ghost is looking down at his (presumably) former lover, was devastating and is a painting all in itself. |
Pennsylvainia: So, you're latest painting, 'Unexpected Guests' is beautiful! Though, as intended, a bit disturbing! It certainly did bring up some of my "Ghost's of Christmas Past!" |
| Ohio: Oh my God Rick...it's wonderful. I think it's my favorite...and when it comes to your work, that's saying a lot, since I really LIKE your work. Thanks for sharing it. |
As soon as the image hit my screen I began to both feel better and tear up. I have lost 2 lovers to AIDS, and seeing that image brought them back to me. It really made my holliday... So much more better. Thank you. |
| ...stumbled on your website, and love your style....just wanted to let you know that the 2002 Christmas painting brought tears and chills to me...fascinating...I just lost another friend, of 12 years ( my best friend ever ) this year, and this painting hit home...I wish I could explain why, I can't...the only feeling I go was that maybe he was here anyway this christmas, it was the only thought that got me through christmas, and most every day | Orlando,
Florida Thank you so much for creating your "Unexpected Guests" painting. It really warmed my heart to see in art what I feel in my soul. It was if I saw my own friends depicted in your work coming back to spend the Holiday with me again. One guy in particuliar was one of the nicest people anyone would ever meet. Jim was just as beautiful and handsome inside as well as outside. I think of him less often as time passes by, but with no less love or admiration. Rick, thank you for helping me to visualize Jim and some of my other departed friends in such a loving, friendly way. This acn be a hard season for those of us gay men in our forties and beyond who have lost so many loved buddies. Thank you for reaching out. |