BONO PAINTING

This is a caricature I did of Bono--sort of portraying him as Jesus walking on water. I have long been an admirer of Bono. When I was in high school I was in a garage band with some mates from school. We would set up borrowed sound equipment in my garage and bang out U2 songs (among others) for hours. The great thing about U2's music is that it's wicked easy to play--just two or three chords. Singing like Bono on the other hand is near impossible... That doesn't mean I didn't try.

As I got older I started to become an admirer of Bono for his political advocacy. I read the book UNFORGETTABLE FIRE in college and was interested to see that Bono really struggled in the early days with issues of faith. As a devout Catholic, he was troubled at how his dreams of being a rock star would compromise his beliefs--especially since the culture of rock and roll was polluted with substance abuse and money. As Bono and U2 matured they found ways to use their music and fame to draw attention to important causes.

As I grow more and more devout in my faith, Bono (in addition to Jesus) continues to be someone I look to. He works tirelessly on behalf of the less fortunate--the poor, the sick, the victimized. He hasn't let fame and money separate him from the pressing social/health issues of the world.

Still, in spite of all that, I couldn't help poking a little fun at him...