The Kwiatkowski Press
Court date tomorrow. An art opening Friday. I have always been a diabetic. I'm not white, black brown or other. I am a diabetic. I was a diabetic before I was a man and it has been less than human. Tomorrow I will exercise an identity outside of that when I pay the price for being an artist. I suspect much of the ado of it had to do with the content of the art. Syringes are in so much of it. As a public practitioner of art I have had the most responses from heroin addicts. I've got nothing against them, have had many a conversation with them and would consider one a brother before most humans I meet. It has to do with a reliance on a needle. Stuck in needles. Those two police officers were making public commentary on the intravenous theme in my art. They should return back to the bully school that bred them, their fathers' womb. Where are my people? Why have we been paying such a steep price for our existence in this country? Even though I was born on its soil, I am not an American. Tomorrow this country and its courts will proclaim as much. As a diabetic, I was never allowed to serve in the military. As a diabetic, I was never allowed to obtain a commercial driver's license. As a diabetic, I can't be allowed a pilot's license. While I believe in freedom of speech, I do not believe in freedom. I'll be free once I quit injecting insulin, once I quit having to pay for what's deemed free. If I could create a new currency it'd be art.
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Comment by Michael Hoskins on August 9, 2010 at 8:51pm -
Wow... you phrase it so well Frank. Good luck in court, and I hope the court doesn't rule how you're predicting it may. Freedom of expression, my friend - long live the First Amendment, and your ability to exercise it as a diabetic! I'd also welcome the chance to see any of your art that you care to share!
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Comment by Frank Kwiatkowski on August 11, 2010 at 10:04am -
Thanks, Michael. I wound up pleading guilty to get the system out of my hair. I got a one hundred forty-six dollar fine. Initially I thought I'd plead not guilty. In the line of art I do there's a chance for it to come to a crime. These days I've been doing live art in bars or my friend's used bookstore. The money's not great, but there's good exposure. I'm starting to connect with people in the local art venues. Check out the photos on my page. Most of them are shot on telephone poles, which has the possibility of another small infraction. Other than the initial postings, the city has left me alone. What are they gonna do--enforce every garage sale, lost dog or cat poster on any pole at any given time?
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Comment by Judith on September 11, 2010 at 8:21pm -
Just found you here. Marvelous work. Persevere!....
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Comment by Frank Kwiatkowski on September 13, 2010 at 10:28am
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Thanks, Judith. I'm gaining support locally.
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