art and giants 🔷

gomer bias.

I have one memory of the man.

out on Bonser run. out that wild holler. where men are made or broken or hiding away to lick the wounds god gave them like zues’ lightening bolts. he was tucked away in C’s house that day. and Deb was still alive and well. I was a boy. and when he stood from the sofa with a bucks game playing ambient he towered over everyone yet still doubled over on two walking canes like an old silver back.

7ft 2in - according to legend.

ruined. worn. tougher that a pine knot. intimidating by all accounts and fully aware. made of glass now. but once like two oak beams coming out of size 18 lineman boots. long wild black Hair.

Daddo said that he’d come by unannounced saying GET IN TIMMY TIMBO TIMMY OLD BOY and make an offer he literally could not physically refuse. or other times he’d be in a bar and G, the Giant Man would come by just to check on him and set the record straight and call everyones attention in the bar for just a second which is all that it took and say

ANYONE GOT A PROBLEM WITH HIM?

NO?
U SURE?
ANYONE?

…

just checking…

…

the Jackson street gang ran it.

and when the pills turned from a miracle cure to the devil’s breath mints or something and it went bad it all went bad from the years on the line. pounding railroad stakes. backs breaking. glass. they put those giants to work like oxen. like men building babel.

when all that went bad they put him away for a while im not exactly even sure where

and he made art…

he made several abstractions like this but also realisms, landscapes on pieces of cut drywall, eagles, etc.

and I tried to ask his brother about them and why and where and when but even he really only had hearsay and speculation and said that the Giant would make up all kinds of lies about the art that he freehanded it or this or that when clearly it was a paint tape line

tall tales

and now here I am with time to contemplate them.

extra time

tucked away, like ol killroy

lighting bolts from God.

time.

considering how the pieces come together.

at the railroad diamond

at the crossroads.

what’s most clear to me

is that in the end he made something beautiful out of it.

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