I was asked to be a part of group art show located in Inwood, Manhattan. The title of the show was "Ladies and Gentlemen, This is the Last Stop." The theme was the location and how the subway plays in important role in living in Inwood.
My piece, entitled "The Shortest Distance Between Two Points," focused on the subway line that takes the majority of residents to this neighborhood, the A line. The ball strives to embody the time and distance that folks spend getting to and from their homes on the train. The A line is 31 miles long and takes two hours to go from end to end.
The ball is made of 31 miles of solid 3 ply cotton twine wound into a ball. It is coated with blue carpentar's chalk. The common materials reflect the blue collar nature of the neighborhood.
The last two photos are from the openning night of the gallery show. You can see more photos from the show here.
The Christmas Holiday always rejuvenates by reminding me of fond childhood memories and the pursuit of new ones. So instilling a sense of 'now' and 'winter crispness,' I thought of the mint. Peppermint has many meanings around Christmas time, but its the joy and freshness it brings when eating it that was the concept trying to be expressed here.
The card was silkscreened. One of my first forays and it turned out well. I do need to learn more about pulling the ink and getting even coverage.
A button is included in a peppermint wrapper. And if you open it as soon as you get it you will smell the fresh winter air that is sweetened by our holiday thoughts.
For Halloween this year, I wanted to bring a more gruesome nature to my greeting. The black oval cards bring a gothisc feel to the button eye specimen it displays. The eye is a combine of paper parts and red thread.
The interior brings the message full circle. And blood always serves as the best best medium to write in.
The holiday/winter spirit moved me to create this card. I wanted a card that could serve as a decoration also. As the card stands upright the snow flake button floats in the space created by the tented card. The original inspiration was a snow globe and a Christmas tree ball. The button was given its glimmer by punched holes in the paper to reveal the metal backing. It was produced in a limited run of 50. A message was inscribed with white ink on the inside blue field, so when folded it would look like additional flakes in the behind the main flake.
The Book of E is the letter representing itself and its manifestations. It is a collection of signage photographs with a focus on the letter Es on the signs. The book takes on the E shape to reflect its contents and the accordion nature allows you to make it as long or as thick as you want it.
Halloween is my favorite holiday and part of the holiday is about the treats one gets. The buttons being the treats for adults, in this case. It also functions as accessories allowing adults to 'dress up' without getting into a full costume. The buttons' imagery are some of the time honored symbols of the holiday. The number of buttons honors the bounty one used to receive as a child trick or treating. The wording was hand stamped, with a latent pun in the copy, to draw attention to the fact the objects inside were buttons.
Getting married was an important event in my life and my wedding was about a celebration of personalities. Being light-hearted and nonconformist lead me too this invitation and program. My most important objective of the wedding was for the guests to have fun and to enjoy the event. So to establish the tone, this invite was created as a coloring book for guests to fill out and bring to the wedding to see who did the best job. A pack of crayons was included to make sure adults were not have any excuse not to participate in the exercise of youthfulness. The invite itself tells of the basic story of how my wife and I met.
The Fans were employed to add an Asian feel as well as a practical purpose for the balmy fall day. The fans were hand stamped to reveal the events of the day on one side. The other side had decorative statements of love and the date of the event.
With a desire to express how hammers are important to me and to make my feelings three dimensional was the main inspiration for this book. Made out of plywood and nails, this book actually is the size of a large briefcase. The plywood covers are covered with nails, which almost destroys them. Inside contains several pages and a nail box containing hand drawn flip books. Which animate the basic functions of hammering in a nail and taking one out.
The pages are collaged and represent different aspects of a hammer from the engineering, to the pounding and lastly to the impressions on me. At a young age, carpentry was introduced to me and its rules of doing things and the consequences. The right way and the wrong way. And it leads ultimately to my respect for the qualities that make everything real.
