Gregg Chadwick

Ours was a house of secrets. I found combat camouflage paint sticks in a green Marine Corps-issue locker. Stacked nearby, I also found oil paint-by-number kits that my brother and dad liked to play with. I drew jungle-green and black stripes across my hand with the camo gear and sniffed the sweet vegetable smell of linseed oil in the small, do-it-yourself tins of paint.Theater and art gave me their secrets that day, and I held tight to them. My dad was a Marine—in response, I became an artist, because I didn’t want to kill people.                 

                                     - Gregg Chadwick, Voyage LA, June 2026