“Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors… and bowling, and as a surfer he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and… up to… Pismo. He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would Donny. Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince.” –Walter Sobchak

Everybody does images of the dude, I wanted to do something a little different. The problem was that I didn’t have rights to the movie or Steve Bushemi’s likeness. I started brainstorming about how I could still do it, and make it obvious its him without showing his face. Then I thought what if I did a still life of the iconic folgers can. I tried a few versions of just the can but it was reading like a Folgers advertisement, not a Big Lebowski art print. Then I thought what if I block out the face similar to René Magritte’s painting “The Son of Man.” That idea seemed to work perfect because of the amount of surrealism in the movie paired with the beach scene.  The print became a perfect parody of “The Son of Man.” I love the idea of Donnie being out of his element in the film on multiple occasions and now also out of his element in this composition.

Watch: The Beach Scene