1996 Camry, 4-cylinder Automatic
Hurrah. Palette and materials speak for themselves.
Hurrah. Palette and materials speak for themselves.
Carya monolithis, Monument to Modernity
This was my second and (to date) last attempt at an experimental medium inspired by industrial sanding. I painted layer after layer of varying colours on a piece of plywood - in this case: white, then blue, then yellow, then red - and then used a power-sander to 'shave' it to what can be seen here. This is sacramentally intentionally ugly beyond all attempt - a picture of a 'tree,' based on poem concerning the same subject. While the central subject is blue-separated-from-yellow with a 'balloon string' trunk, there is the subtle outline of a 'real' tree along the outside of the test-tube tree. The inscription translates: 'Ginsberg, Ginsberg - you were the blind, mute bastard of Komos; you are the one who spoke of the end of the world.'
This was my second and (to date) last attempt at an experimental medium inspired by industrial sanding. I painted layer after layer of varying colours on a piece of plywood - in this case: white, then blue, then yellow, then red - and then used a power-sander to 'shave' it to what can be seen here. This is sacramentally intentionally ugly beyond all attempt - a picture of a 'tree,' based on poem concerning the same subject. While the central subject is blue-separated-from-yellow with a 'balloon string' trunk, there is the subtle outline of a 'real' tree along the outside of the test-tube tree. The inscription translates: 'Ginsberg, Ginsberg - you were the blind, mute bastard of Komos; you are the one who spoke of the end of the world.'
Untitled
Acryllic on cardboard. Using a small piece of cardboard for this work was an attempt to afford 'sacramental' movement - to bring a physical correlation to the image portrayed.
Acryllic on cardboard. Using a small piece of cardboard for this work was an attempt to afford 'sacramental' movement - to bring a physical correlation to the image portrayed.
Untitled
Acryllic on ceiling tile; grid formed from air-conditioning unit packaging. More industrial-inspired art.
Untitled . . . 'That Shirt'
Materials: red acryllic, pages from a Church of the Nazarene Manual, a letter box, an empty toilet paper tube, a broken mirror, a black marker, a red marker, two image clippings, a dress shirt, a tie, a Church of the Nazarene return address label, nails, and a bandage.
I made this just prior to my Confirmation, as a sort of reflection of the journey to reach that point of deliverance. At first, as in the first picture, I had the tie untied and open, but the 'tie noose' idea clicked and, in my opinion, really completed the piece.
In the first place (and this is the level I was operating on), this is loaded with all kinds of personal expressions and realities. In my struggle over/with the Nazarene denomination and with my coming to deeply understand the steep cost of becoming Catholic, I seriously considered suicide. The pages and illustrations and notes on and inside the shirt have to do with my trying to help 'fix' the Nazarene denomination's catechesis and doctrinal crisis, as well as the utter despair that followed.
However, I think a photograph of this seems incomplete without a viewer looking at it; it seems to have struck something beyond whatever it was I was trying to strike at. I've noticed that the piece itself makes the viewer the 'piece of art,' on display in a profound way. This seems to be a conduit/window that 'stirs up' the human struggle with ugly realities, in oneself and in others. In some instances, the viewer averts her/his eyes quickly. In some instances, the viewer stares quizzically. Sometimes - and usually only after a few encounters - the viewer timidly and curiously moves closer to peer into the 'heart' of the shirt. Any given person can have (and has had) any or all reactions to the piece, even as the human (at least our present and particular manifestations) seems to do with her/his life.
Materials: red acryllic, pages from a Church of the Nazarene Manual, a letter box, an empty toilet paper tube, a broken mirror, a black marker, a red marker, two image clippings, a dress shirt, a tie, a Church of the Nazarene return address label, nails, and a bandage.
I made this just prior to my Confirmation, as a sort of reflection of the journey to reach that point of deliverance. At first, as in the first picture, I had the tie untied and open, but the 'tie noose' idea clicked and, in my opinion, really completed the piece.
In the first place (and this is the level I was operating on), this is loaded with all kinds of personal expressions and realities. In my struggle over/with the Nazarene denomination and with my coming to deeply understand the steep cost of becoming Catholic, I seriously considered suicide. The pages and illustrations and notes on and inside the shirt have to do with my trying to help 'fix' the Nazarene denomination's catechesis and doctrinal crisis, as well as the utter despair that followed.
However, I think a photograph of this seems incomplete without a viewer looking at it; it seems to have struck something beyond whatever it was I was trying to strike at. I've noticed that the piece itself makes the viewer the 'piece of art,' on display in a profound way. This seems to be a conduit/window that 'stirs up' the human struggle with ugly realities, in oneself and in others. In some instances, the viewer averts her/his eyes quickly. In some instances, the viewer stares quizzically. Sometimes - and usually only after a few encounters - the viewer timidly and curiously moves closer to peer into the 'heart' of the shirt. Any given person can have (and has had) any or all reactions to the piece, even as the human (at least our present and particular manifestations) seems to do with her/his life.
Untitled
Acryllic on canvas. An experiment with a colour-contrast method. This piece is based on the coronation ceremony for a new pope, in which (traditionally) a barefoot monk interrupts on three occasions, lighting a flax rag on an iron pole and pronouncing, 'Holy Father, thus passes the glory of the world.'
-r
Acryllic on canvas. An experiment with a colour-contrast method. This piece is based on the coronation ceremony for a new pope, in which (traditionally) a barefoot monk interrupts on three occasions, lighting a flax rag on an iron pole and pronouncing, 'Holy Father, thus passes the glory of the world.'
-r
