Art is vital to human survival or so I liked to tell myself. Apparently this is true or we wouldn't have so much and so many examples from groups who's existence was a constant struggle. I doubt the Lascaux painters had extra time and energy to goof off. What art does or why we need that done is completely opaque to me. I've long since given up trying to figure it out. It is a comfort to know that when the sabertoothed tigers get too close, painting a picture of a bison will get you through the night.

When the pandemic started I needed to make pictures more than ever but I couldn't focus. I couldn't move myself to care about what I'd been making before. Sharpening pencils is in and of itself rewarding and printer paper is cheap enough to use with abandon. If I throw out a day or a week's worth of work I don't have to feel too bad about it.

Over the months I added better paper and tried fancier pencils. I'm no closer to figuring out how art helps people survive but, I'm more certain than ever that it is vital. The sabertoothed tigers, the virus, and whatever else lurks in the shadows outside my cave haven't got me yet.

—Spike Milliken