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On my first day in Memphis, August 28, 2005, I visited the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. That happened to be the last day of a show called, “Patrick Kelly: A Retrospective.” His clothes, made in the 80s, were known for their use of decorative buttons. Kelly was an African American who was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In 1979, he moved to New York to study at Parsons School of Design. In 1985 he showed his first collection. He died in 1990 of complications from AIDS at the age of thirty-five. The bright colors of the buttons I saw in the show lead to make this painting.


acrylic on canvas, 5" x 5"