Tired of Being the Good Guy by Ruby Williams

Ruby Williams. Detail of Tired of Being the Good Guy, n.d. Paint on wood. 24 x 48 in. Courtesy of the Walker Collection of Florida Self-Taught Art.

A many-hued green monster sprawls violently over a jarring sherbert-orange background, laconic and menacing. Red eyes leer from all over the monster’s body, their lidless gaze inscrutable. Like the rest of the painting, they are not composed in a delicate way. The brush strokes are rough and the colors ‘spill.’ The maw of the beast is turned profile, allowing a peek into a protruding red tongue and thirty-three white teeth. It has sharp black claws and a small black tail. The image is one of defiance, a tone cemented by the bold words that are positioned haphazardly around the monster’s body: “Tired of being the good guy.” The beast seems to revel in its monstrosity, whilst inviting the viewer to embrace their own.