10" x 8"
oil on wood
I didn't know who Andy Irons was up until a few days ago. I had heard a surfer had died of a strange disease and I thought it was sad, but didn't really think about it again. Then I kept hearing about him and it turns out he was a really good surfer, a three time world champion surfer, big waves surfer and he died of dengue fever which is a virus carried by mosquitoes.
Dengue fever causes extreme pain all over and they are not sure if he died from the pain killers he was taking or the fever. I'm guessing it was the pain killers.
Anyway, the reason for all of this is... I started thinking it's really amazing to me that someone who battled waves the size of five story buildings was taken down by something so small, a mosquito.
Even though this is a grim analogy, I think it really does apply... when you think you're too small and can't make a difference, think again.
Here's more about Andy:
