in 2003 while being a laid-off tech guy
I revisited my childhood friends I
decided to paint these characters that
I’ve been drawing since I was a little
kid back in the Philippines and exhibit
them at an Open Studios to my surprise
people like them they smiled they
laughed and they bought paintings I
actually had a hard time sleeping after
the Open Studios because I wanted to
find the perfect way for thinking Boston
for purchasing all of the artwork and so
at around 2:00 a.m. I committed to
giving away paintings to show my
gratitude to Boston and to spread smiles
around the city in the span of two weeks
30 paintings were left on park benches
train stations hospitals senior centers
and other public spaces with this note
below the note is my website
badda clan comm my last name this is how
people are able to contact me nothing
beats the smiles of people who find
paintings I recently painted murals in
North Carolina and also gave away
painting stare these are pictures of
people who found paintings in Raleigh
here are photos of paintings being given
away across the country that was me at
the post office in North Pole Alaska I
heard that if you write a letter to
Santa Claus chances are your mail will
end up here okay I kind of believe it
because when we walked in there there
are hundreds of letters from kids who
wrote to Santa here are pictures of
paintings being given away around the
world before I showed the next slide I
was just like to emphasize that that’s
the real Eiffel Tower in Paris and this
is the fake one in Vegas fake real fake
Machu Picchu was incredible but it was a
bit of a challenge to leap paintings
there concer up 10,000 feet
this was a little easier if the rice
terraces in the Philippines bit of a
hike more oxygen beautiful place family
friends and clients also give away
paintings I’m a full-time artist and I
can’t afford to go to all these places I
love this one a client of mine went on a
cruise to Antarctica and she left a
penguin painting for a whole bunch of
penguins is that cool like literally
cool when paintings are given away in
non-english speaking countries the text
gets translated to the local language
here’s one in Tibet so I receive lots of
messages from people who find paintings
most are simple thank-you notes
however some come with photos of the
painting recipients and they’re found
art this was from an Elvis impersonator
from Australia who found a painting at
Graceland and Memphis Tennessee this is
my other faith a bride to be found a
painting in Harvard Square and her
family and friends a prior to her
wedding and her family and friends used
the painting for wedding cake her
wedding reception and one of the
bridesmaids even shrunk it and place it
just a few months after starting the
street art project I decided to give
away paintings on a cold gray and icy
February day in 2004 in Cambridge where
I live
I left a painting on a park bench and
immediately a young couple approached
the bench at first I was concerned for
the woman because she was wearing these
neon pink shades with almost pitch-black
lenses that was worried because she
wouldn’t see the ice and that she would
slip but fortunately the couple didn’t
have a hard time picking up the painting
and they walked up happily with her
found art I didn’t hear back from them
until spring of that year they said a
message saying that they would like to
meet me a few days later heard a knock
on the door and when I opened the door
guess what she was still wearing the
same exact shade however this time it
was more appropriate it was a nice sunny
spring day she then hugged me and then
she removed her shades I saw that a
portion of her head was sort of K bit
caved in department her shades were
hiding she told me that she and her
husband found the painting during their
first week of chemotherapy and that it
helped them deal with her illness and
treatment at this point we were all
crying it was all so then and there that
I told myself that I will give away
paintings no matter what this is a still
from a video message that this mom put
together the San Francisco Chronicle
published a photo of her son picking up
a painting at the BART station in San
Francisco immediately after the story
was published the mom contacted me
apparently they’ve lost touch for about
four years she mentioned that her son
had a mental breakdown got into drugs
and that was how they lost communication
the newspapers story and painting
reunited the mom
the Sun the most intense feedback
received today came from a college
student in the Midwest he sent a message
detailing the insurmountable challenges
he was facing that school year and his
thoughts about suicide he told me that
finding a painting on campus was one of
the reasons why he didn’t take his own
life this was a portion of his message
Wow never in my wildest dreams could I
have imagined becoming a muralist let
alone a full-time artist as you may
recall I was a tech guy my my mural
career started when schools began asking
me to give presentations about my
kindness slash pay it forward and non
graffiti form of street art all my
school related murals are based on kids
drawings what I do is I showed them how
to draw my characters and then I take
their drawings then I paint them and so
in the end the kids artwork becomes part
of the school’s history
slash legacy just like stories from
people who find paintings some of my
mural painting experiences have also
been really memorable one particular one
comes to mind it was of dis boy who
could not stop watching me paint the
school’s mural it all started when the
seizure brought this entire class to
observe the mural being painted believe
it or not that kid started to cut
classes in order to see me paint that
got him in trouble but it did not stop
him at first he just asked art related
questions but eventually he started to
share his passion of becoming an
ambulance driver yeah I was impressed
but somewhat puzzled by highly specific
career choice especially for its age
but nevertheless I encouraged him no and
but unexpectedly he tried to convince me
to become an ambulance driver I told him
hey hey you know I already found my
dream job and I can’t think of doing
anything else I didn’t think much of our
conversation I just found it amusing
however later on that week I found that
as his mother was a drug addict and that
every month sometimes every week the
ambulance would come and rescue his mom
the boy saw the ambulance drivers as his
heroes and he wanted to become one to
this day I’m still in awe of that kids
capacity to find good in a really
difficult situation since giving away
the very first painting the fall of 2003
this actual one on this slide about
2,500 paintings have now been given away
and in about 70 different countries
around the world who would have thought
that by thanking Boston that I would
find my life’s work kindness can truly
be paid for it and it comes back thank you