I had the great fortune to work with Jim Harithas a few times, the first being a show in 2006 at Houston’s Station Museum of “Texas Legends,” featuring Daniel Johnston, Gibby Haynes, Clark Fox, Anthony Ausgang and happily, myself. It was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. The museum enabled me to create a Guernica homage in my signature style by commissioning an enormous canvas one foot longer and one foot taller than Picasso’s original, which I painted over the course of a month inside the museum. I painted by day and was Jim’s houseguest, spending long nights after wonderful meals in deep-dive discussions on world events. Jim had experienced so much of the world. I came to realize it was his intense intelligence and curiosity mixed with empathy and sense of fair play, facilitated by boundless courage, that defined his singular greatness.