This is the first painting I made for another person: a birthday present for John Stout.

The title is a joke about art store Culture Hustle’s “Pinkest Pink” and the amount of gayness of the birthday boy, which is high. (Our joke about his level of gayness is shared and appreciated.)

The upside down pink triangle is, of course, adapted from the Nazi arm band symbol identifying gay men and re-appropriated by gay men in the 20th century.

This is another molded impasto painting, and the first one with a triangle. I made the triangle mold from a cookie cutter and liquid latex in a bowl. The paint didn’t adhere well at the corners and I learned I need to be more careful to paint into the corners for this kind of shape.

I ended up putting a heavy jar of gel medium on top to press it into the canvas which transferred ink from the bottom of the jar onto the painting. I hastily mixed a pink and painted over the top of the shape, which made it a little less glossy but in general pretty cool.

Also a first: I masked the edges of the painting and painted each of them a different shade of pink to make the painting seem more multidimensional and luxurious. It’s an extremely subtle effect but I like it.