Diminished Castration of a Slave: Fascinating Metaphor for Circumcision

2012 • 48″ x 18″
acrylic, spray paint on recycled fence pickets

From dear ol’ Wikipedia

Circumcision is arguably the world’s oldest planned surgical procedure, hypothesized to be over 15,000 years old, well pre-dating recorded history. There is no firm consensus as to how it came to be practiced worldwide. Peter Charles Remondino suggested that it began as a diminishment of full castration of a captured enemy: castration certainly would have been fatal, while some form of circumcision would permanently mark the defeated, yet leave him alive to serve as a slave.

So we see, the slave mentality of blindly mutilating your son’s sex organ because of some ancient religious dogma, is indeed, still, the diminished castration or marking of a slave.

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Holy Virgin – Harlot Priestess of Istar: A Myth’s Weird Origins

2012 • 36″ x 36″
acrylic, spray paint, silk on panel

This is a commissioned piece painted for a collector who enjoyed paisley silks and the casting of Jungian projections of witch and virgin upon a woman at different times for the same reasons. She was looking for an ironic virgin. I think the source of virgin birth myths is itself ironic:

Holy Virgin was the title of harlot-priestesses of Ishtar (and) Asherah. The title didn’t mean physical virginity; it meant simply “unmarried.” The function of such ‘holy virgins’ was to dispense the Mother’s grace through sexual worship; to heal; to prophesy; to perform sacred dances; to wail for the dead; and to become Brides of God. The Hebrews called the children of these priestesses bathur, which meant literally “virgin-born” as in those children who were born of the holy harlot-priestesses of the temple. The Hellenic world had no equivalent to the bizarre rituals of Ishtar, and mistranslated and misunderstood the literal Hebrew’s bathur as parthenioi, also “virgin-born” but in the sense of physical, not spiritual, virginity.

She provided the paisley silk which ties in with Persian and Zoroastrian motifs as well. My collector sees a virgin she can relate to in this piece while I see a busted myth.

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Burlesque Existentialist: A Daring Comparison of Silly Sad Clowns

2012     •     48″ x 18″
acrylic, spray paint, paper on panel

“The burlesque existentialist is a stock character of the popular imagination, dressed in black and uttering gnomic assertions about life and the universe.” This quote, found on Temples of Reason, combined with my own notion of “sad clown” goths, standing around being miserable, reciting nihilistic aphorisms, lead to this painting.

The clown, sad serious and silly looking, stands on a short shallow stage that only highlights the ridiculousness of his attention starved misery. Painted on a collaged ground of old etchings, it creates an atmosphere around him that accentuates his mood.

Like many of my works, no one gets this piece. That’s okay. Like anything worth doing, this made me giggle and I love it.

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Your Dick is Showing: Revealing Ignorance

2011     •     48″ x 18″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

How is it that patriotic American zealots who get upset at burning flags WEAR so many flags themselves?

The United States Flag Code establishes advisory rules for display and care of the flag of the United States. It is Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code (4 U.S.C. § 1 et seq). This is a U.S. federal law, but there is no penalty for failure to comply with it. In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that punitive enforcement would conflict with the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. – Wikipedia

United States Code:

TITLE 4 — FLAG AND SEAL, SEAT OF GOVERNMENT, AND THE STATES
CHAPTER 1 — THE FLAG

section 8 respect for the flag, paragraph (d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free.

(f) The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.

(i) The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.

So let it be noted…Literally wrapping yourself in flag isn’t necessarily a good thing. It is actually disrespectful…and if you do it, your dick might be showing.

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Brother Ass in a Hairshirt: A Self Deprivation Sensation

2011     •     48″ x 18″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

Here I explore the notion of spending this one life, denying your very nature and hating the very biology the very biology that makes us human. It highlights the approach St. Francis took to earthly pleasures:

St. Francis called the body ‘brother ass’. He kept this brother ass under perfect discipline and control. Sometimes he kept this brother ass without food and water and denied it some special food that it liked very much.

So why should one festoon their “brother ass” in a hairshirt?

A cilice was originally a garment or undergarment made of coarse cloth or animal hair (a hairshirt) worn close to the skin. It was used in some religious traditions to induce discomfort or pain as a sign of repentance and atonement.

The sole purpose of this self deprivation and torture was to fight one’s true humanity…that as any other organism with natural and purposeful instincts. I can only see it as unhealthy and sadly ridiculous for people to willingly participate into such misery.

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Lesser of Two Evils: Suddenly Less Evil Sounds Pretty Good

2011     •     20″ x 12″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

What happens when we dress up the lesser of two evils with the trappings of goodness? Nothing. It is still essentially evil and it makes the angels sad.

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Blue Martini: A Startling Color to Consume

2011     •     36″ x 24″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

div class=”portfolio_desc”>The coy young woman with her good and bad conscience on her shoulders pretends to not notice as they ply her with drink. The Ty-D-Bol blue martini is as much a jab at trendy martinis as it is on the people who market them to women.

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Appletini: Reliable As Original Sin

2011     •     36″ x 24″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

Woman’s role in the fall of man has long set the tone for her role in the patriarchal Abrahamic religions. The apple martini being poured by Eve’s good and bad consciences put power, and responsibility, back in Eve’s hands as the snake, the mythical embodiment of the forked tongue trickster who so easily manipulated poor Eve into ruining man’s place in paradise, no longer has a role in anything.

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Here’s to Malaria: Unlock The Healing Power of Quinine

2010     •     36″ x 24″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

Just a spoon full of liquor helps the medicine go down, and why not prevent that malaria with some quinine tonic water and gin? In India and other tropical regions, malaria was a persistent problem. In the 1700s it was discovered that quinine could be used to treat the disease, although the bitter taste was unpleasant. British officers in India in the early 19th century took to adding a mixture of water, sugar, lime and gin to the quinine in order to make the drink more palatable. The masculine suit, the facial hair, the concern over malaria shared with British imperialist soldiers all hearken to the expectation and hidden dangers of manly pursuits.

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Jesus Loves Me But He Can’t Stand You: Exciting Sanctimony

2010     •     22″ x 12″
acrylic, spray paint, fabric on panel

Everyone has their own personal religious notions and are able to contort their morals, rationalizing their good and bad actions while harshly judging those of others. It is really about alleviating guilt, lack of empathy and a lack of impulse control. Jesus loves me no matter what but he judges the shit our of your twisted ass.

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