Above leaps a glamorous Koi fish, dancing above the water in the warm embrace of the afternoon sun. This piece has become an overnight sensation, garnering over 150,000 views on my www.chriselucas.deviantart.com page, and has been reblogged, reposted, copied, faked and of course tattooed. Am I bothered? Not at all.
I am glad that such a simple drawing that I did so many years ago out of utter boredom on the floor of my bedroom can bring so much joy to so many people around the world. I get emails, messages and comments all requesting my permission to use the above tattoo, in remembrance of loved ones passed or merely because it is exactly what they were looking for in a tattoo. So far I have about 20 photos from individuals around the globe who have had the tattoo imprinted into their skin and were so elated by the addition to their bodies that they wanted me to see the result. Incredible.
This to me is the true purpose of art, to inspire, to bring light and beauty, not profit. The world we live in has taken something that the renaissance began and twisted it into a grotesque capitalist machine. So this isn’t news, it’s been done to everything right down to peanut butter. No inventions can escape the mighty greed of modern society. Well, I intend to.
I have given art work to friends around the world, at their requests, and to see their faces light up with joy will always be enough for me. I will just have to make my millions some other way.
