13

Cody VanWinkle

Did this number mean anything to you before making this piece?

Yes- and that was sort of a problem with the number 13. It is so significant for a bunch of reasons, so I wasn't sure which direction to take. I'm not particularly interested in most of the ways 13 is famous. I'm not very superstitious, and I never had a bar mitzvah. I wasn't sure what direction to take because there were so many options.

So which direction did you go with?

None of the established significances really spoke to me, so I was hemming and hawing about it. But then I was reading something for school about different number systems. The whole metric system is based on the number 10. There are many ways we tell time that are based on twelve: 12 months in a year, a 24 hour day. So 13 is interesting because it has that extra wheel. It doesn't conveniently fit into anything- it fucks it up. It's an inconvenient misfit. And that was something that spoke to me- the idea of 13 being the smelly kid who's picked last.

That reminded me of something that happened a bunch of years ago, when someone reminded us that there is this 13th astrological sign in the zodiac that we don't like to involve, because it's inconvenient. It messes up the calendar, and then people who are Leos find out that they're really Cancers. And because it's not convenient for our narrative, we just ignore it.

So I looked it up, and the sign is called Ophiuchus, and he is the serpent-bearer. So I read a bit about him. The way he's traditionally depicted is scantily-clad, because of Ancient Greece, and holding a snake with one end in one hand, and one end in the other. In the depictions of him I've seen, he's also straddling this snake. It reminded me of someone doing a sexy dance with a boa. I'm not sure about what has been intended before, but I definitely see a man doing a sexy dance. So that was the direction I decided to take- 13 will be Ophiuchus, who is clearly a burlesque performer.

I tried to draw him in that pose- straddling the boa and doing the taint-tickle. But I couldn't find a way to make it look elegant or classy. I wanted it to look elegant, I just kept making it look awkward and clumsy, which is actually pretty appropriate for the way I originially interpreted 13. Instead I went with a different pose- something pouty and demure. He's bearing a serpent, and you can see in the picture.

The autograph was a last minute idea. Once I added the elements together- the figure, and the constellation, I seemed to have some space that needed filling. I added an autograph that may or may not have been written in lipstick.

I love that detail- it makes it feel almost like ephemera from a really exciting night out.

It does seem like a souvenir. This is the first piece that I've done like this that is so meta, which admits that it is what it is. I suppose that my piece for Tales of the Bizarre was like that- it was drawn to be a magazine cover. I didn't start out that way, I started out thinking that it would just be an illustration representing a constellation, like we've seen many times, it's just that this one involves lingerie and tassels. But then I had that last-minute addition, and it changed the format. Now it has become an autographed photo, as if this person has signed the piece instead of me.

I don't fall under this sign, but I think it's worth noting that on December 13th, when this piece will appear in the calendar, it will be under the sign of Ophiuchus. It will be #ophiuchusseason. I was well into the piece when I realized that.

Is there any new advice you have for other people participating in this project?

In the past when you've asked me this, I've said to mull it over, think about it, and be open minded. This time I'd like to add that if you need to do some research, do some research. You and I are two people who both like to do that anyway- we're nerds you love to research, but even for people who don't have that instinct, I recommend giving it a shot. At first I mulled over a lot of ideas, I spend awhile ruminating about it. And then when I had this grain of an idea, that's when I hit Wikipedia and started looking at pictures and studying the astrological calendar. I found details that I'm really pleased with that I would not have found if I hadn't looked up specifically what the serpent bearer looks like. I would not have put him in underwear. He might have been a superhero, or anything else. But instead he's this sexy pouty vixen because I did my research.