Oakland painter defies the odds, defines adversity through his art
An Oakland painter fought the odds to express himself through his art, after a shooting nearly took away his creative ability.
On the first Thursday of every month, art takes center stage in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood.
"The Art Walk is a monthly self-guided art tour," said Eli Maness, owner of 5 Olive Gallery.
The event consists of several galleries featuring works by local artists.
"It's really difficult to get into the art world," said artist Devon Blood.
Blood’s journey is unlike most. His is a painting of adversity.
The 44-year-old's routine rarely changes. He sits in the same spot every day inside his 200-square-foot studio apartment in downtown Oakland.
In many ways, Blood has always had art beating through his body.
"My mom is an artist,” Blood said. “She taught me how to be an artist."
As a teenager, his work shifted from canvas to skin.
"I wasn't able to break into the art world, but I was able to break into the world of tattooing," he said.
Blood spent years tattooing at Oakland’s most popular tattoo shops, but on July 12, 2006, Blood’s life was forever changed.
At the time, Blood was living with his girlfriend at a duplex at the corner of 20th Street and International Boulevard in Oakland. He had just come home from work and was settling in for the night when he heard a bang.
"We heard crashing," Blood said. "We heard breaking glass. We didn't know what was going on."
What was going on was a break-in. Police believe the suspects were mistakenly in the wrong home.
“The house next door to us was a [marijuana] grow house,” Blood said. "They weren't after me. We were just in the wrong place, wrong time."
He remembers them running around the apartment before heading towards the bedroom.
"We got startled out of bed,” Blood said.
He says he told his girlfriend to go out a back window, but it wouldn’t open. At that point, he decided to barricade himself against the door.
“They were surprised to see someone living there,” Blood said.
Blood says when the suspects couldn’t get through the door, they started shooting.
“I woke up in the hospital six weeks later," he said.
Blood spent nearly two months in a coma.
“All I could do was just get there and be there,” said Blood’s mom, Linda Blood. “I basically moved into the hospital for a couple of months."
Blood was shot in the back of the head. The bullet is permanently logged right behind his right ear.
"I lost all muscle control in my right hand," Blood said. "I'm deaf in my right ear. My glasses are for double vision. Without them, there would be two of you."
Blood says in the days at the hospital, he felt alone. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with his life.
"I want to continue to do my art,” he remembered thinking. "I can't use my right hand. I’m screwed. I can't do anything."
Unable to use his right hand, Blood had one choice. He started to relearn everything with his left hand.
"I sat in that hospital bed, took an alphabet book, and practiced doing the alphabet with my left hand,” he said. “It looked really bad at first, but then it got better and better."
He then wanted to see if he could use his left hand to put paint on velvet.
“I still have to figure out something new every day and every time I paint," Blood said. "It's all in your head. If you could learn how to use your other hand, you use what's in your head already."
"How many people would be able to do that for themselves?” asked Eli Maness. “Just to switch hands. It is pretty amazing and inspiring."
Blood’s work caught the eye of Maness. Maness owns 5 Olive Gallery in the heart of the Tenderloin. He decided to give Blood his own show during November’s Art Walk. It was the first solo show Blood.
"I finally got an art show at a gallery,” Blood said. “It's mind-blowing to me. It's something I wanted since I was a little kid, and I thought it could never happen."
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