Last summer the homie @BuckGlass and I crafted this 💎 of a bub and dubbed it "Albert." Buck and I had made a few spaced-out fish pieces in the past (a fun combination of our styles indeed!) and while we even had requests to make more fish collabs, we both really wanted to make something different than what we had already done. So I hung out leisurely at Bucks beautiful property for a week or so after the 2016 #DFO, blazing with other visiting friends and viewing the beautiful OR coast. We talked more than we torched, and a few peeps kept suggesting (probably just impatiently awaiting some action!) that we just fire up the torches and bang out another space fish...but #wedowhatwewant
One bright morning a mega-bedheaded Buck walks into the kitchen to make coffee while I'm already slamming down dabs. I can tell by his demeanor he has something exciting on his mind as he bursts out... "Monkeys in Space!!!" I looked at him a little funny. He finishes, "We sent monkeys into space before we sent people!" So we spent the next few days nerding out on the history of monkey's in space and decided to make a tribute piece. #nailedit
So while researching over the next two days while Buck and I gathered gas and materials, we stumbled upon the story of 'Albert', the first monkey in space, and ultimately decided to make a special tribute piece to honor him specifically. BUT, as we dug in a little more, we found out he was actually named 'Albert II.' Wait, did that say Albert TWO? So we began wondering if there was an Albert ONE, and why didn't we hear more about him during our initial research? Most accounts had only celebrated a single monkey named Albert as the 'first monkey in space'. But history tends to conveniently drown out the saddest parts of it's song with the drumbeat of it's successes. #theplotthickens
Well, come to find out, there were actually 6 different Alberts! All were rhesus and cynomolgus monkeys that NASA had named in sequence Albert I-VI and launched into space on various flights from 1948-1961 so that we could learn more about how space travel might affect the human body, once we made that leap. It's actually an amazing, albeit sad, sad, story about how sacrificing animals on some level helped progress humankind, and I HIGHly suggest you google it after this post. #historyisyourfriend
Albert found a home with a very special collector back at #heaterz last December...BUT @Buck is throwing a show full of new 🔥🔥🔥 in PDX on 9/15th called #INTRINSIC!! I hope to see you all there!!
❤️🐵🙈🙉🙊🚀
Photo credit: @glassotaku