Pair With : Pocket Knife Army - Wrapped Around Your Finger
Cougar is a piece that stood out to me from across the room when I first saw it. Bordered by a dark wood frame with a few small nicks and weathering, a hand painted oil piece from the now defunct Artistic Interiors, the Avon/Tupperware like venture that was aimed at putting original artwork in homes all across America in the 1980s. A certification number is printed on the back with order notes for a Howard Brown, 3/25/1984. Â
How long this piece lived on Howard’s wall, or why he chose the watchful gaze of Cougar, we’ll probably never know, but I recall waking up in Tonto National Forest and stepping out of our sleeper van right as the sun was coming over the ridge. I had a handheld radio and scanned until I found KMOG 1420 on the A.M dial. A man named Payson Jayson was just coming on air, early on a Sunday morning to play two hours of classic Grand ol’ Opry down and out Country music. I remember scanning, left and right, not another human for a few miles of uneasy road, terrified I would turn a corner around the van and come face to face with this very same gaze we see from Cougar.
