2013 • 60″ x 33″ acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets
When tragedy happens, why do we find so many people thanking God that it wasn’t any worse? All of the credit – none of the blame? Good work if you can get it.
I’m not questioning God’s will, his power or even his existence with this piece. I’m questioning the egotistical belief that we have a gift giving invisible sky daddy and the shithead externalization of all blame towards the boogeymen from which He protects us. I may be comforting to a child to put a face on all the scary things that we can’t understand or control, but how can any adult settle for what is little different from the ignorant imaginings of scared cavemen explaining away the thunder.
We should take credit when you can, accept the blame when you must and get used to the fact that the universe doesn’t give a fuck about you.
2013 • 55″ x 33″ acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets
I have long had issues with to Chick-fil-a. First because in the early days, it was only available in malls, and fuck going to malls. Then I found out that they were not open on Sunday. Sunday is just an arbitrarily chosen day that is different than the day the Jews observed. Why even bother? Fuck them. They would have me not able to buy chicken on Sunday exactly as I can’t buy liquor. Only later did all that anti-gay legislation stuff come out. That was just the icing on the cake and not even the subject of this piece specifically.
Because I associate such irrational fundamentalism with the egocentric worship of a mythical, blonde haired, blue eyed, virgin born god-man from the middle east, I chose to show the Chick-fil-a mascot cow proselytizing this naive belief, similar to the done-to-death ads with childlike cow writing used to promote eating more chicken. And of course what do they do while selling us their version of Christianity? They offer waffle fries on the side.
2016 • 26″ x 20″ acrylic, spray paint, used fence pickets
Bathtub Mary, also known as Mary on the half shell is a simulated lawn grotto framing a small statue of the Virgin Mary and less often, other Roman Catholic figures.
While often constructed by upending an old bathtub and burying one end, similar designs have been factory produced.
Bathtub Madonnas are also a common sight in north-central Kentucky and southern Indiana [where I spent a vast majority of my years on earth]…an area that has historically been predominately Catholic. A drive down country roads…will provide ample sightings of these small shrines.
This is a theme that is very rich for me. Not only as a recovering Catholic but because of its association with the archetypal “virgin.” Jung’s ideas on the subject helped with the recognition of my propensity to project. The discovery and recognition of the negative effects this subconscious power can have was a big part in causing me to want to confront the power of Symbols in my work and in my life.
Below you can see older, less successful attempts to do this idea justice as I was finding my visual voice. Lady (1) was a during a time when I thought my use of materials could support my half assed illustration style. It wasn’t until later that I’d be better suited to mixing realistic elements with (better) illustration (see: Lesser of Two Evils).
Our Lady of the Lawn (1): 15″ x 12″ 2011
Lady (2) was even worse for different reasons. I was determined to include text in the pieces as a more prominent element. Mary in a bathtub screams for a vertical support. I think I may have tried this horizontal as a challenge.
I failed.
The thing sucks for too many other reasons to list but it did get me closer to the success you saw above. This is why you take a step back after you finish a piece and evaluate your success and failures. Most importantly watch and listen to how people react to things. If you believe in the basic idea, you can eventually make your way to a piece that is worthy of the brilliant concept behind it.
2013 • 53″ x 35.5″ acrylic, spray paint on used fence pickets
I made this for a show celebrating the release of that awful new Wizard of Oz movie in the spring of 2013.
I love starting with a theme. In this case I researched the meanings and symbols in the original movie and the books it was based off of. Very much an allegory for the plight of farmers and factory workers, I starting thinking about all the reforms and subsidies that were put in place to ease the uncertainty of markets for Americas farmers and how over time they have been taken advantage of my larger and larger corporate factory farms.
Symbols and associations aren’t always “this equals that” in the mind of a writer or other creative person, but reading about these interpretations led me to my own associations about the book, the movie, their symbols and how people see the subjects they represent.
Interpretations vary, particularly on the lesser figures, but this will give the readers good reference points to begin their consideration of the matter. Was the symbolism consciously or subconsciously employed? We cannot know with certainty, nor does it really matter. What matters is that Baum understood the issues involved and employed them in Oz. Millions of Americans have seen Oz, generally several times. Knowingly or not, Oz has given us a key to understanding the solutions to the economic issues we face in our time if we could only accept that we have had the power to regain our bank-mortgaged homes all along.
