Another Hero

The urge to project heroic power is almost irresistible to all men at some point in their lives. Trying to appear heroic is like trying to be cool, making it a perfect setup for tragicomedy. These drawings map out the zone between how we hope to be and how we really are.


Another Hero – Silver Web Surfer
42’’x58’’
Colored pencil, acrylic on paper
2008



Another Hero – Silver Web Surfer (detail)



Another Hero – Wonder Human
42’’x58’’
Colored pencil on paper
2006




Another Hero – Wonder Human (detail)



Another Hero - WolveRican
42’’x58’’
Colored pencil, gouache, collage on paper
2005




Another Hero - AssGuardian
36’’x44’’
Colored pencil on paper
2005




Another Hero - AssGuardian (detail)

Immigrant Vessels

Like a plant biologist studying cells under a microscope to understand a larger plant, I “go small” to resolve the epic picture of globalization. My work is about individual bodies propelled forward by the currents of history, political movements, and individual hungers. It is about the impossibility of shedding history and culture like snakeskin, however dearly we may want to “arrive” someplace new.

I repurposed a "waterless aquarium" to create an art piece that explores the push and pull of immigration by individuals.

The "waterless aquarium" has a backlit photographic image. Ocean wave sounds emanate from the piece. A mylar film with adhesive transfers of the artist's drawings scrolls endlessly in front of the photographic image. These drawings are simple iconic images related to individual stories, and long histories, of immigration. Spanish galleons butt up against modern sedans and airplanes; elements of various national flags loop across each other on the scroll.



A Deficit Surplus (mp4)
Mixed media
19'' x 12''
2007




A Deficit Surplus
Mixed media
19'' x 12''
2007




500 Year Old Baby
Mixed media
19'' x 12''
2007



The Scholar (detail)
Mixed media
19'' x 12''
2008



Man to Man
Mixed media
19'' x 12''
2008

Salvage

I got hooked on sneaking my camera into auto salvage yards and photographing the beat down junkers and their contents. Several times I was thrown out because for some reason, it is against the rules to have a camera in the salvage yards, but I kept coming back because of the formal beauty of the wrecked cars, and the creepily intimate feeling of poking around the inside of an orphaned vehicle. People leave remarkably personal items in their abandoned cars. Others leave very little, allowing me to invent my own stories to explain what had happened to the car and their owners.



Disaster Tongue
2006
Digital Photo
11’’ x 14’’



Ali and Balls
2006
Digital Photo
11’’ x 14’’



Taz
2006
Digital Photo
11’’ x 14’’



Green Bolt
2005
Digital Photo
11’’x 14’’



Orange Drape
2006
Digital Photo
11’’ x 14’’



Broken Blue
2005
Digital Photo
11’’ x 14’’

Indelible

We see millions of images daily. Virtually all of them will be forgotten before the next day begins. But there are images that become burned into our memories. Why do certain images become indelible? What are the pathways into our permanent memory banks? How do we remember truthfully? I explore these questions through tiny miniature porcelain sculptures that represent flawed recollections burned into my own memory.



Indelible: ’65 Impala
2.5’’ X 2.5’’
Porcelain
2006



Indelible: Chickicide
3’’ x 3’’
Porcelain
2006




Indelible - Chickicide (detail)



Indelible: Brain Stemmed
4.5’’ x 3.5’’
Porcelain
2006



Indelible: Abu for Two
5’’ x 3.5’’
Porcelain
2006



Indelible: Abu De Milo
2.5’’ x 2.5’’
Porcelain
2006