Graphite and gesso on frosted vellum. 42x42”, 2012.
This drawing was inspired by an interview I read between the actors of the Avengers movie. During the conversation the word inward was mistaken for the phrase N-word by Samuel L. Jackson. I found this malaprop to express connotations to the Hulk and his struggle between the forces of rage inside him and its outward transformation.
Graphite and gesso on frosted vellum. 42x42”, 2012.
Graphite and gesso on frosted vellum. 42x42”, 2012.
Is part of a ongoing series 1997-present called the Triadic Series. These are drawings that construct relationships between desperate elements that are brought together through coincidence and chance experiences. These poetic redundancies allow for the drawings to carve themselves out through time. This drawing was inspired by three events that happened in proximity to each other within weeks. When reading Mike Kelly's obituary in the LA Times in 2012, I questioned why he would take his own life, when he was considered one of the most influential artists of our time. I regret never really getting to know him, and confess that I was intimidated by something about him, knowing from his friends that he had both a loving and dark side to his presence. I read that the last photo shoot he did was for Artillery Magazine. Common to the process of making the triadic works, one of my rules is that i will use the first image that I find to make the drawing and the Artillery Magazine was sitting in my studio at the time. I went to reprint the image along with a few others including the moon for anther drawing, but in trying to save paper by printing on both sides, I inadvertently printed Kelly's face on top of the moon. It reminded me of the classic "Le Voyage dans la Lune" the 1902 French silent film directed byGeorges Méliès, but just recently retold by Martin Scorcese in his film "Hugo". I had caught a preview for the movie a short time before Mike's passing.
Graphite and gesso on frosted vellum. 42x42”, 2012.
Is part of a ongoing series 1997-present called the Triadic Series. These are drawings that construct relationships between desperate elements that are brought together through coincidence and chance experiences. These poetic redundancies allow for the drawings to carve themselves out through time. This drawing was inspired by three events that happened around the same time. Reading the obituary of artist Mike Kelly, the cover image of Newsweek for an article on the book phenomenon 50 Shades of Gray and seeing the movie poster for the Elephant Man, by David Lynch.
This particular work came about through a visit to a used book store. The two images in the drawing are renderings of the first book that I found and the first book that my daughter found upon us walking through the door of the store. A chance event that when juxtaposed produces a web of meanings that expresses a wisdom normally obscured by the mundane.
Learning, how to write and how to draw is the formal linkage between the two books. I purchased the books and while reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An American Slave, I came across this passage, “During the time, my copy-book was the board fence, brick wall and pavement. My pen and ink was a lump of chalk.” This was the process by which Fredrick Douglass learned to write and represent the world back to itself.
The first image on the left is of Alan Turing, the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence . While reading Douglass autobiography, I heard a story on the radio about Turing. It is a common belief, though unproven, that Turing killed himself with a poisoned apple inspired by his favorite fairy tale was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Graphite and Gesso on drywall. Approx. dimensions 7"x50".
This was a wall drawing done at the inaugural show of "The Project" gallery in Harlem, NY. founded by Christian Haye. The wall drawing was painted over and no longer exists.
This was a wall drawing done at the inaugural show of "The Project" gallery in Harlem, NY. founded by Christian Haye.
The section of the drawing is of an invisible busboy that was in a dream of mine.
This was a wall drawing done at the inaugural show of "The Project" gallery in Harlem, NY. founded by Christian Haye.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
This was a wall drawing done at the inaugural show of "The Project" gallery in Harlem, NY. founded by Christian Haye.
Ralph Waldo Ellison
