Sometimes this kid named Kayla comes and hangs out at the Mercury. (“This kid?!” she just said from over my shoulder. “THIS VERY HIGHLY INTELLIGENT HUMAN BEING.”) None of us know who she is but she draws stuff sometimes. Here is her latest, Rabid Babie!

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ARTIST’S STATEMENT:

“I have always had the idea of making a piece about a rabid baby and now I have finally done it. And I am proud of it.”

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With honor and distinction, Erik Henriksen served as the executive editor of the Portland Mercury from 2004 to 2020. He can now be found at henriksenactual.com.

19 replies on “<i>RABID BABIE!</i> by Kayla, Age 11”

  1. Is that a rendering of Ezra in his tall person’s gathering ensemble? And is he trying to tame Rabid Babie or fight him?

    Also, please, please make that next week’s cover.

  5. I’m fascinated by the infused subtext of the piece expressing the barely suppressed themes of man’s inhumanity to man, man’s inhumanity to nature, and “babies” inhumanity to Lincoln. Kudos to the artist, and it should be banned.

  6. Not every guy in a fine hat is Abe Lincoln people. Come on. The artist herself tells us that this piece is not about the man, but rather that it is a piece “about a rabid baby”.

  11. @denverwarner: a fine hat AND A BEARD. It’s Lincoln.

    Besides, artists are always the worst analyzers of their own work.

  13. If this is the “Arts” portion of which you speak, you can have it
    regards
    4th graders and people with crude sketch books who consider themselves “artists”
    If this was done by an actual child under teenage years I apologize. Its better than a lot of garbage I have seen at last thursday

  14. Why, that’s no baby, that is a case of paraphilic infantilism. Look at the size of the alleged “baby.” That thing is huge. The abe lincoln impersonater is, in fact, closer to viewer than the baby, but the baby is larger. The head alone is enormous, and it is likely Uncle Fester. That’s not foam at the mouth, but obviously a bit of foam from the beer that dude just chugged. Kid, don’t quit your day job. You ask too much with your artistic license.

  15. I think the perspective is fantastic, the rolling hills, winding road, the world’s smallest city! And those hands. The use of highlighter is overwhelmingly breath taking. Surely no one else here would have thought to use the blue highlighter under the purple highlighter to give such a deep sense of depth to the man’s pants.
    This young lady should be damn proud.

  17. That’s not Lincoln, it’s clearly Mr. Dark from “Something Wicked This Way Comes.” He’s teaching ’80s dance moves to the immense, hydrophobic infant, even though he has no feet. Possibly one of Ray Bradbury’s fever nightmares, telepathically transmitted.

    Either that, or it’s just some stuff she made up.

  19. I like the drawing and I think this is one of the better posts. I’d like to request that in the future, Kayla’s drawings be scanned rather than photographed with an iPhone. Thanks.

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