"Sticky Mouse" by Kenneth "Post-Fiction" Webb

Kenneth Webb grew up in the 80’s, during the crack-cocaine epidemic and ensuing War on Drugs. His family and neighborhood were heavily affected by these issues. His father sold crack and his mother was addicted at his birth. Kenneth was born with some developmental challenges due to the drugs in his system. However, thanks to Kenneth’s mother (not his biological mother but another woman brave enough to love and care for him like a son), young Kenneth was able to find self-expression in the Arts. However at seventeen, Kenneth was cornered by one of the most notorious gangs in the city. Fearing for his life, he made a terrible mistake. He shot and killed another man. 

Kenneth is currently serving Life Without Parole at Lancaster prison. For the past eight years, he has sought redemption and service through various artistic programs. He is a spiritual leader and mentor for the Progressive Programing Facility at Lancaster, and he is the head instructor of the Healing Through Arts Program. Kenneth has totally dedicated himself to rehabilitation, service and advocacy through artistic mediums. Disgusted and devastated by the deaths of so many young men in his community, Kenneth Web’s painting entitled, “Can I Live?” is a plea for an end to the violence. 

-Written by Tobias Tubbs and Elanor Carpenter for CSULA's Statement Magazine

State of Mind 

The painting is a combination of a "happy accident" and a "screw you." The painting underneath was a tank scene I painted for a commission of a Correctional Officer, and he flaked me. Also, I always wanted to do a painting of Malcolm X, and I became tired of waiting on the C.O...so I started painting over the tank scene and my co-workers told me to stop and look at what I was doing.
​I started to see how both paintings began to meld together and what it started to say to me, "conflict between politics and religion."

- Sadiqu Saibu
​cdcr# F-61416

Art Photographed by F.Scott Schafer