My boyfriend and I at the Michael Jackson memorial at the Staples Center.. this image ended up in the New York Times. Rocking a red arm band in memoriam.

Can’t believe it’s been more than a year since his passing. I’ve been one of his biggest fans since I was a kid, so I just wanted to take a moment to write about him, and share with you all how obsessed of a fan I was..

Being interviewed by the media at UCLA Medical Center the day of his passing

My closest MJ encounter, lol: I had painted the Thriller album cover for a group show at Gallery1988 LA sponsored by Rolling Stone back in 2008. Jensen, the gallery owner, told me that the night before the show opening, Michael was RIGHT next door at Golden Apple Comics with his kids. So with my painting in hand, Jensen brought the piece over to try and get it signed. Unfortunately, security was so high that they wouldn’t let him in.

My piece in the show

I fell in love with every part of his act, from his voice to the dancing to the music to the costumes to the music videos. When I was really young, Leave Me Alone was my favorite because of the surreal imagery and the collaged stop-motion animation. And I could stare at the Mark Ryden-illustrated Dangerous album cover for hours!! He was colorful in every sense of the word. And imagine how pumped I was when I found that he too loved to draw?? I was in love.

Mark Ryden’s illustration for the Dangerous album, at the Neverland Ranch auction exhibit that I went to

Aside from his undeniable talent and starpower, there was his immense celebrity and personal life. Not only did I want to dance like him, but as a kid I felt like I related to him, as someone who felt like she was never quite understood. It was like I was hiding a big secret from the world; the fact that I was truly, very very weird. Haha. I later embraced this ‘weirdness’ by wholly expressing myself through my artwork. I’ve always been interested in the psychology of human behavior (read my Artist Statement),and I’m sure my obsession with Michael Jackson had a BIG part to do with it.

Sculptures from the same exhibit, I think from his Ghost music video

He was a specimen for the public eye to pick apart, and with each new nose job or controversial headline, just about everyone became his psychologist.Everyone had their own theories as to why he acted or looked the way he did. The transformation of his face was a physical manifestation of these inner issues..It was mindblowing to me!!! What would drive a person to change their face so much, and keep continuing to do so until they were unrecognizable? All of a sudden I was interested in mental disorders, Which led me to wonder about everyone else in the world. About other people’s secrets, about their insecurities, their hopes, their fears.. And how all of that relates to their public persona, the way they present themselves to the world. Their inner selves vs. their outer identities. All of a sudden I realized that I wasn’t so weird, but also that no one is ever really completely NORMAL.

But all ‘weirdness’ aside, it always came down to the music for me.

So here’s to Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, and a huge source of inspiration for me! Happy Birthday.