Color Me Lucky

Color Me Lucky is a work inspired by Evel Knievel’s swagger that explores desire, masculinity, image, risk, and the momentum that carries you forward, even when you know there’s a train wreck ahead. Knievel was marketed to my generation through toys, comics and trading cards. In the 1970’s, he came to represent the daredevil—steadfast, virile, courageous, and determined. Knievel’s illustrated legend captivated an audience. Clad in red, white and blue, he embodied the fantasy of soaring over obstacles—even if the landing wasn’t pretty. When I was six, I planned to be just like Evel; naively I couldn’t understand the consequences of my choice. Imagining myself in his striking leathers, I raced my bike down a hill like a kamikaze on a mission for the sake of a stunt. At the bottom of the hill, with too much speed, I crashed, tumbled hard across the gravel, laid there unconscious—my prize was spending four days in the hospital with a fractured skull. Injury aside, I gained bragging rights. My present preoccupation with the popular daredevil opens up a conversation about what attracts a woman or man to act on or witness risky behavior for the sake of a thrill? Knievel is my metaphor to decipher if we all have a bit of Evel in us.