The first time I saw a Nalgene was twenty years ago, August of 2002, college orientation. I was curious why most everyone had one of these colorful, semi-transparent bottles, covered in stickers with deep wear — sun bleached, water marked, each in a various state of glossy decay. Where had they come from? Where does on procure? And why? Is this a lifestyle?? To me, in that moment, It held some sort of luxury status, a pillar of society I was unfamiliar with, but curious to penetrate— as foreign objects often do. Sometime in that first semester, I stole one from someone — can’t remember who — and slapped a Grateful Dead Steal Your Face sticker on the side. I threw it on the asphalt road that led across the commons to give it a lived-in patina— like buying distressed jeans, a post-millennium phenomenon that was just starting to take hold at the time. At some point, I used this green Nalgene as a vessel for liquor...which quickly rendered it useless for anything but transporting liquor across the university lawns. Later, I remember putting flowers in it, and how, after a few days, the water stank— just WRETCHED! The aroma of decaying flowers in dirty water. How something so beautiful could become so nasty, downright vulgar is still beyond comprehension, but I’ve seen it happen to too many things now to think of it as anything but a natural fact. Harmony! That was the end of that Nalgene. Until this painting came into mind earlier this year. Untitled (Flowers in Nalgene with Grateful Dead Sticker) Acrylic and oil stick on canvas 30x22in 2022 On view in VESSEL, curated by @dashasayshi , @hashimotocontemporary , Los Angeles, until July 2. To inquire about available work DM the gallery or email [email protected]