- Drunken Pirate Scoundrels Manning Their Cannons
…. I’ll see you all aboard ship, until then, man ye cannons my shipmates!
♥
~ William Barry Roberts
April 20, 2011
Latest Exhibition: Flamingos, Dust Bunnies and Decay
Bob Ross Rotting
I currently have five individual works of art within the Flamingos, Dust Bunnies & Decay exhibition at the elegant Space 237 Gallery at 237 N. Michigan, Toledo, OH 43604 USA.
At the windy/rainy opening night of the exhibition on April 15, I got a chance to see all the art and really enjoyed the mix of styles and mediums from the various artists. The show certainly represents a variety of art that is more forward looking and contemporary, thus, very little influence of recent past movements and trends such as Neo-Pop Art, Graffiti/Street Art, Pop-Surrealism, etc. Neo-Abstract allusions abound with many of the pieces, though a somewhat more figurative approach. It was a national mix of artists, however the pieces that stood out the most to me were from fellow midwesterners.
My art would make up the “decay” portion of the three-pronged theme of the exhibition. I moved away from the conceptual decay idiom several years ago so all the work is from three or more years prior. Though the work still feels more fresh and applicable than ever before given the rapid collapse of world economies from the Great Recession since the art was created. To us in the industrial midwestern United States, scenes of infrastructural decay and urban blight have not only become common place, but it has defined who we are for many of us. The glistening industrial metropolis of our parents and grandparents generations, one full of hope, promise and affirmation of the American Dream, has given way to ruins, high unemployment and a generation that has moved beyond despondent. At least this is what I take away from the euphemism “decay” when applied to art and culture.
The exhibition runs through June 24, 2011 and is free and open to the public.
March 25, 2011
Vore Convent
Vore Convent
Dimensions: 16.5″ x 20.5″
Medium: Oil on acrylic sheet panel
February 28, 2011
Saturn V
- Saturn V
Dimensions: 25.25″ x 33.5″
Medium: Oil on board
From Chaos, You enter my dreams like a river of piss, unbathed with an unclean mind. The rage of 10,000 dying lunatics cannot match your loathsomeness. You know the length of eternity, and eternity is your wait. My time is fleeting, but my love is not. O Father of Great Jupiter, Son of Uranus! Most Mighty Saturn, hear me!
In Hesiod’s Theogony, an account of the creation of the universe and Jupiter’s rise to power, Saturn is mentioned as the son of Uranus (the Greek equivalent of Roman Caelus), the heavens, and Gaia (the Greek equivalent of Terra), the Earth. Hesiod is an early Greek poet and rhapsode, who presumably lived around 700 BC. He writes that Saturn seizes power, castrating and overthrowing his father Uranus. However, it was foretold that one day a mighty son of Saturn would in turn overthrow him, and Saturn devoured all of his children when they were born to prevent this. Saturn’s wife, Rhea (often identified with the Roman goddess Ops), hid her sixth child, Jupiter, on the island of Crete, and offered Saturn a large stone wrapped in swaddling clothes in his place; Saturn promptly devoured it. Jupiter later overthrew Saturn and the other Titans, becoming the new supreme ruler of the cosmos. This was the end of the Golden Age of Man.
January 26, 2011
Vore
Vore
2007
Dimensions: 28 “x 40″
Medium: Stainless steel, epoxy resin plastination of dessicated apple and wood
“…For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.”
Jesus Christ; John 6:51-58
This sculpture is a juxtaposition of materials and a minor statement regarding the consuming of high technology (nature) to produce low technology (man-made). We need to look no further than a simple flower growing in the garden to witness technology beyond our understanding. The human machination of destroying one greater resource to produce a quantity of lesser commodities is truly equal to de-evolution (Devo), yet we do it relentlessly and without end. We cannot help ourselves from this lust, it is in our religions, it is in our DNA too apparently.
Had human beings and dinosaurs existed alongside one another, the extinct species would have certainly been systematically slaughtered and used for food and materiel by their human predators. There is no morsel on Earth and beyond that can escape the human desire to conquer, destroy and consume.
To create the web for this piece, I generated a CAD drawing that was then used to create a cutting path for a specialized high temperature laser that could cut stainless steel in the delicate pattern taken directly from a photograph of an orb weaver’s design. It would have been disingenuous for me to try to create a spider’s web of my own design, when the original is a flawless layout created over millions of years of natural evolution.
The part of the sculpture that represent the fragile and withering human form (biology) was made from dessicated apple flesh dried around a wooden skeleton, made from walnut and hickory branches. The parts were carved at about 200% larger than what they eviscerated to. Two part epoxy resin was then saturated into the dried apple flesh, creating a plastination of the materials. The technique is essentially the same used by the ancient Egyptians to preserve humans and other animals, however, they used natural resins rather than the synthetic epoxy that was used on this. The planned dehydrating of the apple sculpture produced a natural emaciated tautness that would be hard to plan and replicate via traditional sculptural means. It was my study in “planned chaos” using apples much like the american folk tradition of dried apple dolls. Ötzi (the Iceman), a natural mummy found in the German Alps in 1991, was referenced many times to look at where the dessication should be most pronounced. The natural discoloring of the apples and wood along with the glaze from the epoxy coating certainly looked remarkably similar to photos of the frozen corpse.
The piece was hung and observed for four years to ensure the archival quality had taken effect. Another use of dessicated/plastinated apples can be found in my other 2007 piece The Internet and Ol’ Putrefying Uncle Sam.
January 4, 2011
Uranus
Uranus
(2010)
Dimensions: 11″x14″
Medium: Graphite pencil, acrylic paint, spray paint, and bristol paper on canvas
(ll. 176-206) And Heaven (Uranus) came, bringing on night and longing for love, and he lay about Earth spreading himself full upon her.
Then the son from his ambush stretched forth his left hand and in his right took the great long sickle with jagged teeth, and swiftly lopped off his own father’s members and cast them away to fall behind him. And not vainly did they fall from his hand; for all the bloody drops that gushed forth Earth received, and as the seasons moved round she bare the strong Erinyes and the great Giants with gleaming armour, holding long spears in their hands and the Nymphs whom they call Meliae all over the boundless earth. And so soon as he had cut off the members with flint and cast them from the land into the surging sea, they were swept away over the main a long time: and a white foam spread around them from the immortal flesh, and in it there grew a maiden. First she drew near holy Cythera, and from there, afterwards, she came to sea-girt Cyprus, and came forth an awful and lovely goddess, and grass grew up about her beneath her shapely feet. Her gods and men call Aphrodite, and the foam-born goddess and rich-crowned Cytherea, because she grew amid the foam, and Cytherea because she reached Cythera, and Cyprogenes because she was born in billowy Cyprus, and Philommedes because sprang from the members. And with her went Eros, and comely Desire followed her at her birth at the first and as she went into the assembly of the gods. This honour she has from the beginning, and this is the portion allotted to her amongst men and undying gods, — the whisperings of maidens and smiles and deceits with sweet delight and love and graciousness.
Excerpt from The Theogony of Hesiod
(circa 700 BC)
Like much of my artwork, this piece has a three dimensional aspect to it. I used fire to alter the surface of the canvas, burning holes, charring the edges and curling the openings out toward the viewer. A form of destructive “action painting”, necessary in an attempt to illustrate the story of Mighty Uranus from traditional lore. It is believed that the Judeo-Christian god is directly derived from the Greek god Uranus (Roman named Caelus). I listened to this recording of sounds from NASA’s Voyager craft taken from EM waves of the planet Uranus and was completely taken away into the mythology…..I could hear a lonely anger, as if the planet was indeed alive.
All artwork is for sale, simply use the contact form at this website to initiate a purchase.
December 21, 2010
Viral Infection I (RGB): A new way forward
- viral infection I (RGB)
We have met our maker in the microscope, and it brings us illness, death and ultimately; life.
The Human Genome Project revealed that our bodies are essentially made up of shards of retroviruses. Our entire evolution, everything about us was chosen and then implemented by our viral masters to further their own existence. Do we love or are we merely fulfilling the ingrained commands to procreate and take care of future hosts (our loved ones/offspring)? They count on our ingenuity and persistence to survive comfortably. We are intelligent beings because they wanted us this way.
It is not symbiotic, as they have controlled our creation. They will exist with us or without us. We are their successful project.
I. Computer viruses: RGB
a. Sterile white sculpted acrylic.
b. Thickly poured glossy colors.
c. Large format all enveloping triptych (3-24″ x 48″ canvas panels)
Through misery we borne beauty
December 12, 2010
Louse Inspections
Louse Inspections
(2010) A graphite pencil and inkjet print on 8.5″ x 11″ archival cardstock sketch.
October 31, 2010
Bob Ross Rotting (Watercolor Study II) Prints
- Bob Ross Rotting (Watercolor Study II)
My 2007 watercolor study (version II) for Bob Ross Rotting is now available as a print via RedBubble.com. These very low cost prints have fantastic resolution and color reproduction. They are available in a variety of media including traditional archival paper, posters and even canvas. The link to purchase is here.
