It began with a sketchbook — as is so often the case.

In 2021, i was following the Inktober prompts, attempting to turn each prompt into something phallic (because that’s how i do). One of the words was “suit,” so i drew a dick wearing a suit.

i thought it was funny, my partner thought it was clever, and for years, it sat at the edges of my mind with nowhere else to go.

Earlier this year, i was researching art calls for my first edition of “Quarteros Review,” and i came across a call for an exhibition titled “A Show of Heads.” That Inktober sketch of a penis in a gray suit and red tie immediately popped up, and i laughed to myself, imagining a large painting of the same concept.

Then i realized, while it was still a hilarious image, it was actually a more layered concept: Men are often mocked for thinking more with the head in their pants than the head on their shoulders. The term “dickhead” is thrown around at men who are jerks. The penis head on a shaft shares a similar form to the cranium on its cervical spine.

i resolved to take that humorous concept and turn it into a substantial painting.

Birth of the Tripdycheads

i decided i wanted to show more than one dick, in order to make the point that “dickheads” come in all different types. i wanted to come up with three stereotypical kinds of “dicks” because:

i often think in threes
i LOVE triptychs
it fits my primary red/yellow/blue color palette (homage to one of my favorite artists, Mondrian)
i love a good pun — visually or textually.

And thus, “Tripdycheads” was born.

Of course i had the first concept from my original drawing: white, cut dick in a gray suit with a red tie. i started sketching out a more — erm… — fleshed out idea. i wanted the final painting to be somewhat large because i wanted to accentuate the bold nature of the shapes, the colors, and the subject matter. Plus, i’m a size queen. i like playing with the sizes of canvases and subjects, and i like the idea of the dicks being large and really in-your-face. i chose my 24”x48” canvases because they would be more vertical and add to that sense of height.

The Dych Details

i wanted each dickhead to have a color block behind it, a reference to my own dic pic style i’ve been working with the last couple of years. i had planned to use three different shapes: a red square, a yellow triangle, and a blue circle. In the end, i stuck with all squares to promote unity and consistency among the three panels. i positioned each square equidistant from the top and sides for balance, and the color blocks would emphasize each of the dickheads, similar to the golden halos behind icons — a nod to society’s worship of patriarchy and my own reverence for the male member as a Gay man.

As i was sketching out the details for the first one, i was going to add a pocket square and a brooch for greater “macho” excess and visual balance. i drew a rooster brooch as a visual double entendre for “cock;” and i turned the pocket square into a red hankie, a nod to the kink-coded Gay world and history — a theme i want my art to return to over and over and over again.

i decided to carry those two motifs into the other two panels: the yellow bandana and cock mascot on the jersey in the sports panel, and the blue neck bandana and cock bolo tie on the cowboy panel.

The Dych Materials

The “Tripdycheads” were painted on 24”x48” Gallery Wrapped Heavy Duty Professional Canvas by Artist’s Loft. i added three layers of Liquitex Professional Gesso (sanding between each layer) to smooth the surface a bit more.

i kept a limited color palette of Golden brand professional acrylics:

Pyrrole Red
Cadmium Yellow Dark
Cobolt Blue
Neutral Gray 8
Neutral Gray 7
Titanium White
Mars Black

The five Artist’s Loft brushes i used included two Firenze flats (12, 6); a Firenze bright (4); a Vienna round (6); and a Vienna filbert (2). For some of the details and linework, i used black and white Posca brand paint markers in various sizes.

i did not use any water or medium to thin the paints. i wanted the colors to be bold but flat, yielding a very graphic look similar to my dic pic drawings and pulling inspiration from Gay comic artist Gengoroh Tagame and comic-Pop Art artists like Roy Lichtenstein.

The Dych Process

i started each panel with a sketch in one of my sketchbooks. i measured out a 1:2 block to mimic the 1:2 ratio of the canvases. Then i marked the halfway and horizontal thirds points. i sketched each of the penis “characters” within that scope. On the canvases, i also marked out the halfway and horizontal thirds. i decided i wanted the color block to have a 3” space from the top and side edges, so i marked that out. Then i marked the halfway and horizontal thirds within the color block, so i could keep the penis heads at roughly the same height within the blocks.

i used a 3H pencil to sketch the characters out on the canvases. Then i used 3M #2093 painter’s tape to mark out where the color blocks would be. i painted a layer of Titanium White in the color block space in order to increase potential light reflectivity and to help “seal” the painter’s tape. i then painted two layers of the colors over that, and when everything had dried (but not cured!), i removed the painter’s tape, leaving very crisp lines for the color blocks behind.

i painted out the white background, and then painted the different characters. Once i had most of the paint done, i went back in and lined things, either with the Vienna round brush and Mars Black paint, or with the black Posca paint markers.

Lastly, i decided to paint the edges with each panel’s assigned colors. i was inspired by the Myth and Marble exhibition at the Chicago Arts Institute, featuring statues from the Torlonia collection. The signage at the exhibition was set away from the wall and had a green background, and when the light hit it, it created a green glowing effect around each sign. i hope when these pieces hang on a wall, the exhibition lights will create a similar effect around the outside, further adding to the idea of “halos” and “heavenly glows” — and also neon signage found in any number of entertainment districts around the world.

The Dych Lessons

i learned several things through this project and process, first and foremost: Even though an idea might seem simple, it can still take triple the amount of time you think it will take.

i also learned more about the possible toxicity of paint — even acrylics. i now paint with nitrile gloves, just to be extra safe.

i found i could create three-dimensional contours with the paint by allowing globs of it to build as i moved my brush along. i experimented with this most on the third panel (Blue Cowboy), where i tried to create some physical depth by building some of those globs along the penis veins as i painted.

i also found creative solutions to some of my problems. For example, creating the beads on the necklaces in the second panel (Yellow Jock). i wanted them to all be similar in size and to follow a natural ellipse. i ended up using the eraser end of a pencil to dot the paint along a line I was able to create with a bendable ruler i had recently picked up at Michael’s.

Final Dych Thoughts

i love so much about how these pieces came out:

The bold colors reflect both my love of Mondrian’s work and are a callback to one of the very first color-block art projects many of us experienced in our earliest years.
Each of the “characters” feel at once individual, with real personalities, and also so similar — which highlights my point that in all of our differences, we really are so much more alike than we care to admit.
The details are specific callouts, especially the bandanas and their connections to the Hankie Codes. It’s important for me to highlight the long tradition of Queer people finding, defining, and sometimes creating their own cultures and communities in order to thrive and survive the waves of acceptance and rejection within our broader societies.
The look and feel are meant to be comical. It is interesting that penises are often one of the first things many young boys learn to draw. And yet throughout history, male nudes and male genitals are so often censored and hidden away. The humorous presentation in these panels is meant to both force that stigma to the forefront and disarm a lot of the fear/shame that has continued to surround the male body.
To be quite blunt: These are also meant to objectify. The female body and anatomy has been objectified for centuries. It’s high time that treatment was turned around.

Lastly, i find it interesting that when i have tried to present these on social media or tried to sell merchandise derived from them on Google, they are automatically flagged as some kind of porn. It is another example of another theme that is central to my work: What is art; what is porn? i’m not sure that line will ever truly come into focus, and so i will continue to operate within the fuzzy areas and explore that further.

Evolution of an Idea: The Tripdycheads