Rubber Block Print / 5″x7″

2022

When I was a kid, I had a classmate whose father reminded me a little bit of the character Bob Pataki from the Hey Arnold! cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon. My classmate’s father didn’t look like Bob, but they shared some personality traits: arrogant, stubborn, rude, and dismissive, just to name a few. I remember one instance where this man shouted “Hey, kid!” at me to get my attention and I simply replied “My name is Bryan.” He said “You mean it ain’t Ryan?” and after I corrected him again he grunted “Whatever.” 

I was always going to use the quote “Hey, kid!” for the title of this print but I hadn’t decided on what imagery I would use. The more I thought about it, the more the quote reminded me of the title of the Hey Arnold! cartoon. I wasn’t going to use the likeness of Bob Pataki (or any character from Hey Arnold!), but I did some research and coincidentally, Bob had a similar interaction to my own where he called his daughter by the wrong name and didn’t care that he got it wrong, even when she corrected him. He even said “Whatever.” I thought Bob’s face would be perfect for for my print and I chose to add a jester’s hat to symbolize the foolishness of a grown man being disrespectful and dismissive to a child. In the cartoon, Bob was known as the “Beeper King” (because he sold pagers or “beepers”) but in my mind he’s the “Beeper Fool.”

I carved the image into a blue “Ready Carve” block from the Speedball brand because it was the only block I had at the time. I regretted this decision because the material had a crumbly quality to it which made my linework appear rough and bumpy. It also made a big mess and I ended up with lots of blue crumbs everywhere. I usually use the pink “Speedy Carve” blocks which are more expensive but the material is sturdier and doesn’t make a bunch of crumbly bits.

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