Michael Kirwan / My Funny Valentine - 2006 - watercolor markers and ink with a glazed varnish on paper. image size 12" x 15.75" Frame/mat:18.75" x 22.5" (Artist's comment below)

Detail

MORALLY CORRUPT — SOCIALLY BANKRUPT

"I felt the need to take my work out of the comfort zone of queers delighting each other in a safe space. Normally my characters are there only for each other in a brief moment of sexual asylum from "reality". This image is confrontational, a fierce and unrepentant martyr, torn and tossed by a society hellbent on his annihilation. The government, this culture, demands that we behave in particular ways to survive and "My Funny Valentine" answers that call to assimilate by shouting, "Fuck you. I laugh at your stupidity and I piss on your values."  This is MY heart. This is my call to arms. This is a valentine to all the rebel-homos who create their own identity."