Blind artist. Those are two words you don’t hear together every day, but that’s what Brendan Patrick is, among other things. Patrick was born with cystic fibrosis, an inherited genetic disorder that causes damage to the lungs and digestive system.
Through complications with this disease, Patrick lost his sight. However, he hasn’t let that, or his deteriorating health, slow him down. He and his good friend, Rob Cousineau of Get Super Rad, are busy creating a documentary, aptly named “Can’t See Sh*t”, to give the world a look into the life of a cystic fibrosis survivor.
Patrick and Cousineau are trying to crowdfund the documentary and have an IndieGoGo page set up for it.
Losing his sight was just one of the complications that Patrick faced because of his disease, but it took him a long time to adjust. “It took me a number of years, and in a lot of ways I’m still adjusting. The hardest thing was accepting my vision isn’y going to come back. I held out like a weird hope for a while, like I didn’t want to let go, once I did though, everything got a little easier.”
Patrick had been an artist before he lost his sight. For him, gravitating towards art was more natural than anything else. “I don’t know if there was an attraction, it just felt natural, like a compulsion. When I was a little kid I was different, and I didn’t really have friends. The sketch pad became my best friend.”
He’s since become an established artist, painting in what he calls a low-brow style, despite his vision loss. “My style of art is a low-brow style and very free flowing. It hasn’t changed too much, although it’s real hard to me to tell.” (He laughs). “I let people around me tell me what they see, and judge my work for themselves.”
But if I were to tell you that Patrick is just an artist, I wouldn’t be telling you the whole story. His other love is music. “I actually play a ton of music. I play guitar in the metal band Goblin Claw, and I play bass in a punk band called The Wretched Sights. I am recording a 3 song Ep with Goblin Claw currently,” Patrick said in our interview.
“Can’t See Sh*t” will show these varied aspects of Patrick’s life as he and Cousineau travel around the country. That’s the part that Patrick is looking forward to the most. “I am pretty hyped to travel with my buddies and share my work. It’s exciting that people are excited about my story. I think it’s pretty crazy the interest I have been getting. I am also excited to raise some awareness about Cystic Fibrosis, and maybe my story can help the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation by bringing more attention to the disease.”
Since starting the documentary, Patrick has traveled to some pretty cool places. His favorite place, so far is Pittsburgh. “I loved Pittsburgh. We were just there for “art all night”, where I did some live painting in front of a huge audience. I got to stop at the Living Dead Museum, and we went and checked out the cemetery from Night of the Living Dead which was huge for me because Romero’s films were really influential on my art. I paint a lot of zombies.”
You can support Patrick on his quest to share his unique and inspirational story with the world by checking out the documentary’s IndieGoGo page.
Some of the awesome perks you can expect for supporting the project include
- A high definition print of an original piece of Patrick’s artwork, signed by the artist ($25 perk)
- A Can’t Tee Sh*t, a limited run T-shirt exclusive to the documentary’s IndieGoGo campaign ($35)
- Ultimate Swag Bag, which includes two HD prints, enamel pin, sticker set, sunglasses, and a T-shirt ($200 perk)
- An original, custom painting by Patrick ($500 perk)
According to Patrick, the money will be spent on “traveling and paying crew members outside of the director (Cousineau) and his partner (Chris), as well as post production (color grade, audio mix, ect.). We want to make a great film so it can reach a huge audience.”