Van Gogh's Ear

Inspired by Vincent Van Gogh, I am considering cutting off my ear and sending it to some guy who contacted me yesterday asking if he could use my art on his website after seeing my paintings exhibited in my periodontist's office. That in itself may sound crazy, but this is not just any office of just any periodontist: It's a beautiful space and he's a beautiful man. A patron of the arts, he decided months ago to give his artist patients a venue to display their work and possibly sell it, without taking a cut. That's a rare and good thing.

One of his other patients is a psychiatrist who saw my paintings and emailed me asking if he could use them on his website to "enhance" such topics as Panic Attacks, Mass Shootings, General Anxiety Disorder, Bipolarism, Schizophrenia and more of the distressing conditions that fall under the umbrella of Mental Illness. Supposedly the addition of my art would "lessen the stigma of mental illness by showing what it is to be human." I would not be paid but "credited."

I rejected the offer, if you could call it that, saying that permitting the use of my art for free in that context would actually demonstrate what it is to be mentally ill. (Who knows, maybe that's what he meant in the first place.) Anyway, I'm not really going to cut off my ear, I just thought that would be a great intro to this anecdote since poor Vincent died without selling one painting and it looks like I'm  following in his footsteps.