the message :

Chad Upham, like others in the gay male community, has struggled with meth addiction.

He's also a Washington, DC-based graphic designer.

Graphic design is first and foremost about solving problems. Meth is his (and our) problem. So he's found a way to discuss this and get others to discuss this. Chad's site is here.

Be sure to also look at his design and photography work, as well. All of it is stunning. For different reasons, of course.

It's hard to make personal and political art. Very often all is lost. It becomes didatic and/or just bad art. It's something that I've been working on and struggling with in my own work since seroconverting in 1999 while an undergraduate art student.

More will come from me. When I reach a critical mass of information. And have to have a meaningful way to say it again. I still have all my old notebooks from profiles left at gay phone sites. Plus, every single bottle of pills that I've ever taken.

Chad's project is simple and clean. A dialogue starter. Like the best conceptual art. And like the best conceptuatl art, this is a conversation that needs to be started. Or continued.

The project only hints some of the underlying problems like sex addiction or the trouble gay men have with caring for each other. As the discussion unfolds, I suspect and hope these topics come up.