Monkey On Your Back
18" x 24"
oil on panel
Growing up I heard the phrase, " I have a monkey on my back." Or " Do you have a monkey on your back?" To me it meant feeling the stress and burden of the world.
Upon researching it's meaning for this post I learned it is a term that became popular in the 1800's to describe someone who was in a bad mood or bothered by something that would not go away.
By the late 1940's, it became a reference to having an addiction or having a mortgage.
The monkey toy in this painting is Bobby the Monkey a tin cyclist made by the K. Arnold & Co in Nurnberg, Germany. On the toy it says "made in U.S. zone Germany". This monkey was made between 1948 and 1952.
The largest character in the painting is Timmy Turtle #150, a musical pull toy made by Fisher Price between 1953 and 1955.
Monkey On Your Back
will be showing at
Principle Gallery
20th Anniversary Invitational
reception
Friday, April 25th, 2014
6:30pm-9:00pm
208 King Street
Alexandria, VA
Monkey On Your Back
18" x 24"
oil on panel
