Roughly 10 years ago I started a project to draw without any rules, just let the pen go and move from there. One drawing per day, every day. This was to stay creative while working my first real job as a Marketing Director. There were no rules, no time for rewrites or do-overs. Whatever came out – however rough, wild, insane, vulgar, revealing, so be it. And I often drew something and never looked at it again.
I recently rediscovered the collection – 100s of drawings, countless journal entries, ideas for longer form series and stories, some videos under the name “Visionary Square” and noir photos and other digital anarchy. I feel inspired get back into it. To add to it. To pay respect to the greatest artists, stories, most interesting moments, performances, incidents, freaks and geniuses, those things that elevate and dignify even if in the dirtiest ways.
And none of this is a hunt for the golden ticket. To get into Big Shot Land. It’s just to hang where the sacred meets the street – like when Sublime sings Rivers of Babylon, or The Dropkick Murphys do Fields of Athenry. It’s just to give each person who visits The DJR Project an experience. To say, “We’re alive. The good and the bad. For better and worse. This counts.”
Best,
Daniel Joshua Rubin
April 2, 2025
Evanston, IL