Hola !! Saludos y respectos !! Hello.. and all the other ways to greet you all for stopping at this page...

My name is Anibal Canales,Jr... but my friends and many family call me Bigfoot, and I am over fourty and an artist. You will see all of my work that I think is worthy for you to juge, and comment on. I look forward to it...

I am a resedent of Texas Death Row and I have been here on death row for six years... and a prisoner in Texas prisons for over twenty five years... I won't bore you with the details of that, but if you want to know you're welcome to ask...

Through out my life the one thing that has been the constent.. is my art ! I was born in Chicago, IL. Chi town for some.. smile.. And when I was eight years old, my uncle bought me an art kit for my birthday.. My uncle Pepe was the most influential person in my life and he gave me the look at art. He used to pick me and my sister up from my house and take us to the museums and art galleries and show me all the wonderous colors... At a young age I began to experiment with colors and pencils, and then I graduated to spray cans... ahahah !.. I began to "tag" the walls around my "hood.. I'm from the west side of chicago, what is called the latin nation.. Homboldt park.. I was a latin king, and I would tag all over the walls with all the gang graffiti that I knew, and when I went to Juvi hall.. I would draw and work on papers..

I have no formal training in art, I took some classes that were given at school but that was it.. I didn't go to school and learn this shit.. I just learned by trial and error.. I took lessons from old school cats that were doing time with me through out the years.. and I slowly learned the craft, and I can't say that I am great yet.. But I am getting there, slowly but surely.. and I love to draw and it fills my time. But I had a set back 1995... I had a Heart attack and them several stroke and that caused a tremble in my hands.. which is why sometimes you see some not straight lines.. I had to abandon the black and white work with pens and pencils and use primarily colors to blend and stroke "large"... But since getting here to death row i have devoted a lot of time to get back to the dark work that I use to love. I have done some good work but not my best yet.. I am working on it.. I have some work that is on the planning stages and I have some real dark sick shit, but not yet... not yet... smile.. It takes time for me to get to that level again.. But my colors have been lacking..

Yet that is more than I have said... See the Row... Texas Death Row doesn't allow art materials... So we have to work with what we have and that makes our work look cartoonish.. but trust me we are getting around some of that because we invent new waysto use the colors that we have access to !!.. i use hair grease for linseed oils.. hahaha !! It's agreen greese but it works.. and I also use toothpaste to wash the boards that I work on.. hahaha !! which gives it a polished look.. We also use wax and vitamins for certain glossing.. hahaha !! I say all this to make this point.. Don't equate my art with the polished work of trained pros that are there with you.. here we have to make do.. and because I have to deal with the shit that I do, I have to take what I can get to work with.. and my art reflects that. It has grit and it has true being.. Meaning that it's real !!.. Nothing fake and shake with my shit people !!

And, since coming to death row.. I work even harder for that perfection of art and soul.. I seek one thing through my art... IMMORTALITY !!! To leave my mark on the world after I am gone, to look back and know that I was here.. and to leave that behind and with it a piece of my soul.. my art.. that marks me.. the man.. the person that I was and will forever be and that will never be taken from me.. Here on death row, we FIGHT FOR LIFE.. and I do to.. But I also fight to not be forgotten !!.. I don't want to leave this world without leaving a mark that say to the world.. Bigfoot was here !!.. El Paton !!.. El Rey !!.. King Paton !!.. That's right !! And that's something that state can't take from me !! No matter what !!.. And from that piece of art it shows the world that here was a man that was not only all he claimed to have been but he was also human being and that he had something to contribute to the world.. His Art !! And with that mark I will have achieved what crusaders tried so desperatly to accomplish... To find that holy grail.. That granted them immortality.. My art is my holy grail.. And with it I live forever !!

Enjoy the work, give me your thoughts, tell me what you think.. and share with me your own arts.. and lets leave a mark together.. drink for the grail with me and we will never be erased...

On this site I am also enclosing logs of what goes on around me.. The deaths of men and the cies of the innocent and the screams of the haunted.. I enclose that for you to read.. and the small articles that I write.. for I am multi talented.. and modest can you tell...?.. Hahaha ! Enjoy it all and know that there is more to come.. and if you have questions ask !!.. and when you want to be educated.. go and seek the truth.. and when you want to show me your world... do so.. for I am into all arts.. I love all the classic arts. The fave of mine is Angelo!! Raffaello!! The renanianse.. The work that brought colors to light.. And I also love that dark sweet sick shit that makes your skin crawl with the realism of it.. The shadows and darkness that reaches out with its claws to insnare you.. Man !!.. I love it !!.. Show me it all and I will treasure it brothers and sisters.. Teach me if you have something to show.. I am not above learning either !! Again enjoy the page man, know that I am not finished and there is more to come.. Untill we see each other on the other side..

Peace and respect to all...


PS : As KingPaton is in Death Row, he can't have access to the internet, so please excuse the delay of his answers... This slow correspondence is made possible by his administrator and friend :
See also KingPaton's MYSPACE