A Head dress is a badge of honor, a distinction of position. In many cultures, tribes and countries, headpieces adorn those with higher social, economic and religious status. They may even represent the possession of a higher sacred knowledge. Masks are used to transform someone from mortal to something formidable, otherworldly or anonymous.
I am interested in taking this idea of the head dress and the mask and using them as a metaphor of the invisible power we intrinsically behold. We all possess different energetic ornament. My challenge is to translate that essence into color and shape that will iterate between the work and the viewer.
This body of work is a reminder that we are one and the same. We are parts of the same body. Life is a constant collaboration, whether we step into it willingly, or it is thrust upon us. There is nothing that any one of us can create that is stronger and more powerful than what we create together. All of our hands have a part in building this house, and it is in this house that we choose to live. Collaboration is how we invent the world we want to see and manifest the world in which we want to live. Every part of human society came from nothing, and if we do nothing there will be nothing in it for us.
It is for this reason that I chose collaboration in the presentation of this body of work. The frames for the larger pieces were designed and fabricated by friends, housemates and colleagues (many being all of the above). Time and energy were put into each one of these frames, despite the full schedules, simultaneous deadlines, and multiple projects that each artist was juggling. The love was there, and as a result the frames all became a part of each piece. They became stargates through which we we are all transported to the work, and the UV lights give us the illusion of witnessing a holographic universe. This is our spaceship earth, and we are self-organizing stardust. We are as powerful as we want to be.
Your humanity makes me human.
I AM BECAUSE OF YOU
I Will Fight No More, Passage, Space Race with UV lights on
I Am Because of You at the Smoking Nun Gallery (Gallery Terroir)
I Am Because of You at the Smoking Nun Gallery (Gallery Terroir) Oct. 2016
Viva Las Vegas under UV light