This page catalogues my visual art that has been exhibited by individual piece starting with the most recent. As an interdisciplinary artist who constructs installations and visual narratives that memorialize obsessional lives, I draw inspiration from off beat characters whose private manias become public fodder for tabloids and reality television. My subjects maybe other people but their struggles are personal. I combine dolls, artificial figures, performing objects and elaborate costumes to investigate contemporary forms of animism, death, sexuality, and addiction. I am fascinated by the negotiation of identity – a repetition of a repetition for which there is no original in an ever shifting landscape of technologies that can drastically alter and remap the body.
Raggedy Ann to Real Doll
2016
In Raggedy Ann to Real Doll I constructed a storefront operating theater at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions as one of America’s most beloved dolls went under the knife. Projected video and the remote voyeurism from a live Stream provided multiple onsite and virtual opportunities for spectatorship with the possibility to experience the installation from the gallery sidelines, externally through the windows, or directly engage in the surgery.
Metrics: 120″ wide x 144″ high x 160″ deep
Materials: natural and synthetic fabric, poly-fill, yarn, natural and synthetic dye pigments, acrylic paint, buttons, found knitwear, found objects, live video projection and feed, artist’s body
(In)/Animate Objects
2016
A mountain of decaying rag dolls towers to the ceiling upon which their maker, the grandmother, presides from the throne of her wingback chair. (In)/Animate Objects, my installation for the COLA Fellowship Exhibition, formed the second half of a diptych. Its companion, Object of Her Affection, was a puppetry performance about a woman who in her search for love develops intimate relationships with inanimate objects. The performance charted Andrea Lowe’s life of heartbreak from the loss of her baby blanket to doomed romances with monumental structures. Whether it was nature or nurture that made Andrea an object sexual, she happened to be raised by someone who also shared a complicated relationship with things – her grandmother. Years have passed since Andrea fatally fell from Roy, a crumbling tenement, she was in love with. In sorrow, her grandmother has amassed thousands of dolls that testify to the insatiable need for love at the heart of the obsessional life. I created (In)/Animate Objects for the 2016 COLA Fellowship Exhibition at Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. In 2017, I displayed photographic documentation at LAMAG for COLA 20 exhibition. Photos from (In)/Animate Objects were included in the book, COLA20.
Metrics: 84″ width x 184″ deep x 144″ high
Materials: wood, poly styrene, poly-fill, yarn, natural and synthetic fabric, natural and synthetic dye pigments, acrylic paint, mud, found knitwear, adhesives, buttons, craft supplies, found objects, blood, artist’s body,
Bernie Sanders Is Finger Lickin Good
2015
In Bernie Sanders is Finger Licken Good, a small panel painting, I was concerned that no one in the 2015 Democratic primary field had the sex appeal necessary to be elected president. The media landscape had become infected by a Kardashian Effect where the cult of celebrity and reality show behavior trumped substance in the ratings grab. Sure Sanders’ social and economic justice policies were sexy, but I worried the whole “Feel the Bern” hashtag popular with supporters sounded like a slogan for chlamydia or at least a UTI – and that burning (Berning) connoted more of a destructive force. In my attempt to rebrand Sanders for this portrait, I took a different approach in the hopes the electorate was ready to consume what he was serving. I showed the painting in Los Angeles, originally as part of a group show at Future Studio Gallery (which was featured in the HuffPost) and later at Fachapatoto.
Metrics: 6″ wide x 6″ high x 1½” deep
Materials: acrylic, nail polish, graphite, and ink on wood panel
Growing Up Linda:
Fudgie’s Death
2008
Fudgie’s Death was a pulp noir inspired installation of sequential art that followed the troubled daughter of a famous ice cream mogul and her downward spiral into frosting, substance abuse, and Fudgie the Whale. There were forty storyboards including a selection of three that Korean paper engineer and scenic designer, EuGean Seo, re-interpreted as pop-ups. I exhibited the Fudgie’s Death collection at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn. In the live version of Fudgie’s Death I transformed table-top pop-up books into full-screen cinema with magnification from a choreographed security camera.
Materials: canvas, inkjet prints on matte paper, bristol board, colored pencil, acrylic
Growing Up Linda
Birthday Trauma
2006
Birthday Trauma, was a selection of off-kilter puppets, props, and set pieces originally created for Growing Up Linda, that I exhibited outside of the many live performances. In Growing Up Linda, the fictitious daughter of a famous ice cream mogul must come to terms with her troubled past. I set up Birthday Trauma as a tableau from the inciting moment in the life of Linda Carvel when she is strong armed by her father at her fifth birthday party into dismembering her friend, Cookie Puss (a talking ice cream cake) for the consumption of her blood thirsty relatives. I exhibited various iterations of Birthday Trauma between 2006-2009 in Orlando at Avalon Island, in Santa Ana at Grand Central Art Center, in Los Angeles at Acorn Gallery, and in Connecticut at the Guilford Arc Center.
Metrics: 48″ wide x 32″ deep x 26″high
Materials: tissue paper mache, wood, wire, glue, human and synthetic hair, acrylic eyes, found objects, acrylic paint, acrylic gloss medium
The Adventures of Michael Jackson
and the Animals of Neverland Ranch
2005
The Adventures of Michael Jackson and the Animals of Neverland Ranch was a collection of puppets, props, set pieces (including a giant story book), and wall text that highlighted a reclusive pop-star’s whimsical abuse of animals in his private zoo amidst troubling relationships with children. Originally these objects were part of a short, table-top puppetry piece I adapted from a section of Michael Jackson Was My Lover, a questionably sourced, pulp, tell-all about Jackson’s relationship with a teenage boy. In this piece, I explored the cosmology of celebrities storylines and how they are constructed through our collective myth-making. I displayed the installation at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn.
Metrics: 55″ wide x 96″ high x 45″deep
Materials: cardboard, high gloss paper, wire, acrylic and tempera paint, faux fur, card stock
STD Teddy
2004
In STD Teddy abstract dots appear from beneath a Calvin Klein underwear band and overtake a the genitalia of a teddy bear. STD Teddy was created on a canvas with stretched fabric, craft supplies, and a repurposed stuffed animal for Puppet Trash at AS220, an exhibition of puppets, dolls, and puppetry-adjacent sculptures.
Dimensions: 24″ wide x 24″ high x 5″ deep
Materials: repurposed stuffed animal and underwear band, found knitwear, pom poms, yarn, denim,
Seated Figure
2004
In Seated Figure, a self-aware doll gazes at her own reflection through the plastic of her pink cartoon eyes. Seated Figure mines a common fear of puppets and dolls a reminder that the inanimate can become animate. I fabricated Seated Figure for Puppet Trash at AS220, an exhibition of puppets, dolls, and puppetry-adjacent sculptures.
Metrics: 22″ long x 23″ high x 17″ deep
Materials: cardboard, natural and synthetic fabric, faux fur, poly-fill, , acrylic paint, tissue paper, masking tape, wire, human hair, acrylic eyes, acrylic finger nails, found objects, repurposed stuffed animal hides, feathers.
Auntie Kate
2004
Auntie Kate was a portrait bust of pioneering trans writer and performance artist Kate Bornstein who I was introduced to through her book, Gender Outlaw, and met when she visited The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Auntie Kate was a monument for a monumental figure who influenced my way of seeing post modern gender theory, thinking beyond binaries, authenticity, and sex positivity. Auntie Kate became the center piece for Puppet Trash at AS220 an exhibition of puppets, dolls, and puppetry ajacent sculptures.
Metrics: 36″ high x 25″ wide x 25″ deep
Materials: wood, cardboard, found metal, fabric, duct and masking tape, paper mache, glue, fimo clay, acrylic paint, nail polish, leather, beads, faux fur, silk, medical eye and teeth models, human and synthetic hair, synthetic eyelashes, other found objects
Gemini (conjoined at genitals)
2004
In Gemini (conjoined at genitals), I repurposed oversized Barbie heads originally intended for hair styling. They sit lotus position like a Hindu deity, holding a crystal in one hand and a gelatinous glowing rave toy in the other. Gemini contains a mixture of mythologies: As the third astrological sign in the zodiac, they are represented by Castor and Pollux, twin offspring of Zeus and Leda, who were granted shared godhood after death. Barbie, in fact, has her own sordid history. Originally sold as “Lilli”, a German sex doll, she was acquired and rebranded by Mattel to become a global sensation as one of the world’s most manufactured dolls with over a billion sold. While making Gemini, I became fascinated with “Barbie Syndrome” or the desire to emulate the physical appearance and lifestyle of Barbie dolls, even though the doll has unattainable body proportions. I exhibited Gemini as part of Wham Bam Trans! and in Puppet Trash at AS220.
Metrics: 25″ wide x 14″ deep x 22″ high
Materials: steel, foam, cardboard, tissue paper, duct and masking tape, acrylic modeling paste, matte and gloss medium, acrylic, enamel, gauche and tempera paint, glue, leather, feathers, quartz crystal, “PB” jock strap, found doll heads, manufactured shoes, found objects
Linda Carvel,
Heir to the Throne of the Carvel Ice Cream Empire
Terry, Linda’s Dealer
2004
I created these Sicilian-style marionettes for Growing Up Linda – LSD Kills in which the troubled heir to the throne of the Carvel Ice Cream empire has a bad acid trip. Linda and Terry were exhibited in Puppet Trash at AS220 an exhibition of puppets, dolls, and puppetry adjacent sculptures.
Linda Metrics: 46″ high x 10″ wide x 6″ deep
Terry Metrics: 52″ high x 9″ wide x 5″ deep
Materials: wood, cardboard, iron, leather, glue, duct and masking tape, eyelits, iron, acrylic eyes, human hair, fimo clay, synthetic eyelashes, fishing wire, acrylic paint, press-on nails, found fabric, found objects, feathers, pom poms, faux fur, found objects
Transgenic Conjoined Ganesh/(es)
2004
Transgenic Conjoined Ganesh/(es) was a doll sculpture I created and contributed to Spiral, a collection of handmade dolls and figures at Sand Point Magnuson Park (a former military base) in Seattle. The dolls were set on fire to protest the US’ military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The impetus for Spiral came from monks who self-immolated during the Vietnam War. I wasn’t able to see the final installation, but I imagine it was powerful. In the doll sculpture, the frayed frankenstich aesthetic symbolizes the both monstrous and beautiful lives and identities we piece together in a fractured high-speed world. I incorporated Ganesh, a deity who removes obstacles while whimsical instigating of them. At the time, I had chosen Ganesh to be my representational embodiment of the universal spirit. Frankly, his cute elephant head was much easier for me to deal with than the traditional western, catholic, vengeful, bearded option. While working on the doll, I was meditated on the idea that true peace begins with the self.
Growing Up Linda:
LSD Kills
2004
LSD Kills was a video from a section of the performance, Growing Up Linda, that I displayed as a single-channel video installation at Woods Gerry Gallery in Providence. LSD Kills focused on a bad acid trip of the daughter of a famous ice cream mogul who must come to terms with her troubled past.
Metrics: 16″ high x 23″ across x 16″ deep
Materials: single channel video installation
Atypical Anti-Psychotics Series
2003
The Atypical Antipsychotic Series consisted of Zyprexa #46, Abilify #6, Serequil #11, Rispiridone #12, and Geodon #9. I used a scanner to obtain high definition images of pills, which I modified in Photoshop, and printed on high gloss photo paper as part of Side Effects, a body of work consisting of pharmaceutical portraits. Of Respirdone #12, Petra Kuppers wrote that “the flash of science, and its miraculous color effects, beams, transpositions, and traversals, glistens on the photo paper” in her book, The Scar Of Visibility: Medical Performances And Contemporary Art.
Metrics: Smaller format: 8.5″ x 8.5″, larger format: 24.5″ x 24.5″
Materials: Inkjet print on glossy photo paper
Metronidazole Series
2003
The Metronidazole Series, was centered on an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections of the vagina, stomach, liver, skin, joints, brain, and respiratory tract. The Metronidazole Series consisted of 36 images, which were sold in small editions of 5. I used a scanner to obtain ultra-high definition images of actual pills, which I then modified in Photoshop, and printed on high gloss photo paper as part of Side Effects, a body of work consisting of pharmaceutical portraits including antibiotic, antipsychotic, and antidepressant medications.
Metrics: 8.5″ x 8.5″
Materials: Inkjet print on glossy photo paper
Half Life Series
2003
The Half Life Series, consisted of a 10 milligram sample package of Paxil documented over 8 days as it was used to wean off the drug. At the time people were becoming more aware of antidepressant discontinuation syndrome caused by Paxil’s relatively short half life. I used a scanner to obtain ultra-high definition images of pill sample packages, which I then modified in Photoshop, and printed on high gloss photo paper as part of Side Effects, a body of work consisting of pharmaceutical portraits including antibiotic, antipsychotic, and antidepressant medications.
Metrics: 8.5″ x 8.5″
Materials: Inkjet print on glossy photo paper
Paxil-CR #10
2003
Paxil-CR #10 was an off-shoot of Side Effects, a body of work consisting of pharmaceutical portraits including antibiotic, antipsychotic, and antidepressant medications.I used a scanner to obtain ultra-high definition images of actual pills, which I then modified in Photoshop, and printed on high gloss photo paper.
Metrics: framed: 16.5″ x 20.5″, image: 7.75″ x9.5 “, limited edition of 10
Materials: Inkjet print on glossy photo paper
Finnochio:
The Holiday Classic
2003
In Finocchio: The Holiday Classic, I reimagined the idea of the commercial holiday window popular in urban centers – taking the format of the sequential visual narrative and injecting it with contemporary themes of postmodern gender theory, technologies that can alter the body, mental illness, and addiction. The storyline was a twist on Pinocchio. But instead of being centered on a puppet who wants to assimilate as a normal boring human boy, Finocchio focused on a marionette “trapped” in the body of a non-binary human and hir journey to self-actualization through fabulousness. I created the installation in the front window display of the Dirt Palace, a feminist art space located in a repurposed abandoned library building in Olneyville, RI.
Metrics: 22.5′ wide x 7′ high x 48″ deep
Materials: cardboard, natural and synthetic fabric, faux fur, poly-fill, yarn, dye pigments, acrylic paint, tissue paper, masking tape, wire, framed photographs, human hair, glass and acrylic eyes, acrylic finger nails, found jewelry, found objects, found taxidermy, repurposed stuffed animal hides, feathers, rabbit’s feet, yarn, card stock
Month of Meow Meow
2003
In Month of Meow, I took a Polaroid of my cat, Meow Meow, every day in the fall of 2000 in Chicago. Over the course of the project, I noticed that Meow Meow became more performative and that our relationship as pet-guardian/pet evolved
Metrics: 40″ x 40″ x 2″
Materials: polaroids
Green Insect-Bunny Hybrid
Pink Insect-Bunny Hybrid
2001
Green Insect-Bunny Hybrid and Pink Insect-Bunny Hybrid were a combination soft sculpture dolls and Sicilian marionette that explored anxieties around post-humanism and the manipulation of genetic code, hybrid species, technologies that can drastically alter the body, and designer genitals. The two creatures were a combination of insects (each with a head, thorax, and abdomen), and bunnies with ears and repurposed rabbit’s feet. These two pieces were from early collection of puppets and dolls that marked a shift in focus from creating dolls as sculptural objects to kinetic puppets with storylines. They first appeared in Puppet Runway at SAIC and Perishable Theatre. The puppets themselves were exhibited as sculptural objects in Chicago, and as photographs in Seattle, Providence, Boston, and Olneyville.
Green Insect-Bunny Metrics: Doll: 47″ high x 15″ across x 7″ deep,
Framed Photo: 8.5″ x 11″ x 1″
Pink Insect-Bunny Metrics: Doll: 45″ high x 15″ across x 8″ deep,
Framed Photo: 8.5″ x 11″ x 1″
Materials: fabric, acrylic hair, found doll parts, rabbit feet, faux fur, liquid latex, nail polish
Koe Koe
Bubbles
2001
Koe Koe and Bubbles were two intersect chimpanzee marionettes. These two pieces were from early collection of puppets and dolls that marked a shift in focus from creating dolls as sculptural objects to kinetic puppets with storylines. They first appeared in Puppet Runway at SAIC and Perishable Theatre. The puppets themselves were exhibited as sculptural objects in Chicago, and as photographs in Seattle, Providence, Boston, and Olneyville. In 2006, I developed a second performance piece with Koe Koe as part of Rango Tango at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center the Revolving Museum.
Koe Koe Metrics: Puppet: 40″ high x 17″ across x 9.5″ deep, Framed Photo: 8.5″ x 11″ x 1″
Bubbles Metrics: Puppet: 38″ high x 15″ across x 7.5″ deep, Framed Photo: 8.5″ x 11″ x 1″
Materials: wood, iron, glitter, faux fur, leather, found objects, feathers, acrylic hair
Lisa
Brenda
2001
Lisa was a Scicilian-style marionette based on a friend I met in recovery. When performed in Puppet Runway (at SAIC and Perishable Theatre) you could see her shake as she went through detox. Brenda was a 3/4 scale humanoid doll I created for my BFA thesis show at Gallery 2 in Chicago. Later she became a radical faerie in the final window display for Finnochio: The Holiday Classic at the Dirt Palace. This early collection of puppets and dolls that marked a shift in focus from creating dolls as sculptural objects to kinetic puppets with fleshed storylines for performances. Photographs of both were exhibited in Seattle and Providence.
Lisa Metrics: Puppet: 45″ high” x 6″ across x 4″ deep, Framed Photo: 8.5″ x 11″ x 1″
Brenda Metrics: Doll: 54″ high x 16″ across x 10″ deep, Framed Photo: 8.5″ x 11″ x 1″
Materials: wood, clay, human hair, found fabric, found objects, feathers, doll eyes, iron, nail polish, styrofoam, tissue papier-mâché, acrylic gel medium
Petting Zoo
1999
For Petting Zoo, I transformed a basement cubicle at Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago into a dim, immersive environment where viewers were encouraged to pet, feed, and interact with masked animal-human hybrids who often pet back. I created Petting Zoo with video artist, Kathleen O’Shea, in our alter egos, Twinkie and Star – the Giovanni Sisters. For this iteration, we portrayed the Giovanni sisters as cloned sheep. Petting Zoo existed in the context of a larger haunted house at Randolph Street Gallery, featuring installations and performances by radical faeries including plastic wrap mummification and mud wrestling.
Metrics: 132″ across x 144″ deep x 102″ high
Materials: human performers, fabric, makeup, look at the photos
Spin The Bottle
1998
Part beatification station, part photo booth, Spin the Bottle collapsed boundaries between the viewer and the performer, creating a space for playful interactions at Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago. I created Spin the Bottle with video artist, Kathleen O’Shea, in our alter egos, Twinkie and Star – the Giovanni sisters. In Spin the Bottle, investigated the idea of make over, standards of beauty, transformations, and before and after photos. Spin the Bottle was just one of the stations in Day of Beauty + Ritual, a performance art circus curated with Koe Koe Johnson that celebrated spring as a time of rebirth, renewal and rejuvenation. Day of Beauty + Ritual featured installations and performances created and consumed by an eclectic mixture of pagans, club kids, naturalists, queer spiritualists, and artists.
Metrics: 180″ across x 180″ wide x 240″ high
Materials: found objects, fabric, Easter Grass, spray paint
The Program
1997
The Program was a table-top installation at Gallery 2 that featured repurposed crude-animatronic stuffed animals (a cat, a rabbit, and a junkie dalmatian) that were altered so that they could converse with one another. The Program was a loaf between “the real” from the storybook character, the Velveteen rabbit and “the real” that Lacan states in psychoanalytic theory. This reinstatement of the real to reality is constructed through language. The conversation between the cat, the rabbit over the junkie dalmatian was similar to a dialogue that video artist and collaborator, Kathleen O’Shea, and I heard on 55th and Western at 4 o’clock, July 8th, 1997. We created The Program for the Hybrid exhibition at Gallery 2 in Chicago as part of part of the the Eighth International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA).
Metrics: 36″ high x 33 1/4″ wide x 33 1/4″ deep
Materials: table, stuffed animals, speakers
Feet
1997
For Feet video artist, Kathleen O’Shea and I explored the idea of service, the aesthetic and heightened spectacle of pseudo-medical treatments, and the idea of beautification. We invited gallery patrons to relax on our reclining chair, often blindfolded, while we enacted sensory treatments upon their feet including an array of foot scrubs and a variety of stimulation. Feet was part of a larger context of alternative spa treatments created by Radical Faeries at Randolph Street Gallery in Chicago.
Metrics: 180″ across x 180″ wide x 240″ high
Materials: medical chair, sparklers, found objects, water, foot scrub, furniture, velvet
Silver Room
1997
The Silver Room was a collaboration with Fausto Ferños as part of his Wig Show, at Gallery 2 in Chicago. For The Silver Room, I created a silver-themed room-sized environment. Stationed on an alter as an ornamental metallic deity, I modeled one of Ferños’ wigs sculpted entirely out of aluminum foil. From my pedestal, I serenaded viewers with blown bubbles and sparklers.
Metrics: 180″ across x 216″ wide x 240″ high
Materials: aluminum foil, metalic paint, wood, sparklers, bubbles, the artist’s body
Monster
1996
Monster was a slide projection of a photograph from the Monster Series in which I was exploring the reclamation of the word, “monster”. Monster was a part of 2.72%, an exhibition at Gallery X at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Metrics: 42″ x 42″
Materials: 35mm slide
Inner Monster
1994-1996
Inner Monster was an experimental stop-motion self portrait made on a super-8 camera in which I animated mud mask, hair, and shaving cream on the canvas of my own face. I created Inner Monster as a film in 1994 in Boston and continued to work on it after moving to Chicago as a looping single-channel video installation. I exhibited Inner Monster in Chicago in 1995 at Betty Rymer Gallery and in 1996 at N.A.M.E. Gallery.
Metrics: 16″ high x 23″ across x 16″ deep
Materials: mud mask, hair, the artist’s body, super-8 film
True
1995
My mixed media collage, True was part of the FYP (First Year Program) Exhibition at Betty Rymer Gallery in Chicago, IL. The collage sampled digitally altered photographs of myself and Dan Millman who previously appeared as a model in Space Dreams as part of Book Unbound, and as a live performer in Vigil as part of Assorted Cracker Jack Prizes.
Metrics: 8.5 x 10
Materials: laser and inkjet prints, acrylic, oil paint, cardboard, tinsel, cigarette butts, and other found objects
Space Dreams
1995
Space Dreams was a a 2-channel projected slide installation I created for the Book Unbound Exhibition at Gallery X in Chicago. The sequential images were sourced from digitally altered polaroids of Dan Millman who previously appeared in Vigil as part of Assorted Cracker Jack Prizes.
Metrics: 42″ x 42″
Materials: digital images printed on slide 35 mm slide film
Portrait of the Artist’s Mother
1994
Portrait of the Artist’s Mother is a box collage portait of my mother sitting in her favorite rocking chair watching television, accompanied by the family dog. The mundane tableux contrasts with fluorescent pinks and copper. Jail bars make this scene of domesticity almost appear like a circus attraction. Portrait of the Artist’s Mother was a homage to James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s, Whistler’s Mother and part of Assorted Crackerjack Prizes, an exhibition that explored space, scale, and interactivity with pieces that ranged from smaller art in boxes to larger room sized installations.
Metrics: 15″ wide x 9″ high x 6″ deep
Materials: cardboard, photographic prints, acrylics, wire
Family Values
1994
Family Values was a box art diptych with black and white photographic images of participants and their signs from the first Pride I attended in Hyannis, MA. On one side, a protester in a Jesus T-shirt holds a placard that says, “No special rights”. On the other, a man in a wedding dress holds signage that reads “Not every boy wants to be a soldier”. “Family Values” was part of Assorted Crackerjack Prizes, an exhibition that explored space, scale, and interactivity with pieces that ranged from smaller art in boxes to larger room sized installations.
Metrics: 10″ wide x ” 12 high x 1.75″ deep
Materials: black and white photographic prints, cigar box, lace, cardboard, hair, acrylic paint
Untitled Hair Paintings
1994
Untitled Hair Paintings were a series of 11 mixed media oil paintings made with human hair, broken glass, and rubble that undulated in scale from very large to the size of a Tic Tac box. Untitled Hair Paintings were part of Assorted Crackerjack Prizes, an exhibition that explored space, scale, and interactivity with pieces that ranged from smaller art in boxes to larger room sized installations .
Metrics: 87″ wide x 40″ high x 2.5″ deep
Materials: glass, hair, pubic hair, oil paint, repurposed window frames, canvas
Susan Powter Times Six
1994
Susan Powter Tiimes Six was a box containing a repetition of 6 photographic images of exercise guru, Susan Powters. The inverted images were individually mounted on irregular panels, hanging in the box. Known for her signature bleached cropped hair, Susan Powter was an Australian-born American weight loss guru, who rose to infomercial fame in the 90s with her catchphrase “Stop the Insanity!”. Susan Powter Times Six was part of Assorted Crackerjack Prizes, an exhibition that explored space, scale, and interactivity with pieces ranging from smaller art in boxes to larger room sized installations.
Metrics: 30″ wide x 20″ high x 9″ deep
Materials: paper mache, cardboard, wood panels, acrylic paint, photographic prints
Hair Club for Men
1994
Hair Club for Men was a mixed-media surrealist representation of hair restoration before and after images from Hair Club for Men commercials. Two television-like boxes with antennas hang from another antenna. Scrolls unfurl from the boxes with claims of youthfulness and money back guarantees. I used a mixture of primitive and contemporary styles as I looked at the tribalism of modern day gender codes. The source material was an American hair restoration and company founded in the late 70’s by Sy Sperling to combat male pattern baldness. Hair Club for Men was part of Assorted Crackerjack Prizes, an exhibition that explored space, scale, and interactivity with pieces that ranged from smaller art in boxes to larger room sized installations
Metrics: 23″ wide x 35″ high x 2″ deep
Materials: Altoids boxes, paper mache, aluminum, acrylic
UFO Crash Site
1994
UFO Crash Site was an assemblage of space ship debris, lights, and sound art. The audio track included my ruminations on contact with extra terrestrials, time and space and our limited comprehension of the infinity. UFO Crash Site was part of Assorted Crackerjack Prizes, an exhibition that explored space, scale, and interactivity with pieces that ranged from smaller art in boxes to larger room sized installations.
Metrics: 50″ wide x 144″ high x 50″ deep
Materials: repurposed umbrellas, candles, Christmas lights, aluminum foil, aluminum trays, curtain material, found metal pieces, bottles
Right Wingback Chair
1994
In Right Wingback Chair I invited viewers to sit in a wingback chair into which I had embedded speakers with the rantings of a fictitious right wing character who quoting passages from the Bible to justify his bigotry. Right Wingback Chair was part of Assorted Crackerjack Prizes, a group exhibition that explored space, scale, and interactivity with pieces that ranged from smaller art in boxes to larger room sized installations
Metrics: 62″ wide x 144″ high x 62″ deep
Materials: wingback chair, mirror, end table, bible, repurposed comforter, pillow speaker, cigar, ashtray, black light, wood, oriental carpet, Christmas lights
Confessional Bed
1994
In Confessional Bed I invited the viewer to recline on a cosy bed with a stuffed animal and homemade afghan and to listen to a portable cassette player. The audio track was an interview with an anonymous survivor who recounted her memories of childhood abuse. At the time an inordinate amount of my friends were coming out to me as sexual abuse survivors. While I was vowed to secrecy, I felt like I had to make an installation memorializing their experiences. Confessional Bed was part of Assorted Crackerjack Prizes, an exhibition that explored space, scale, and interactivity with pieces ranging from smaller art in boxes to larger room sized installations.
Metrics: 38″ wide x 75″ long x 6″ high
Materials: Twin size mattress, sheets, found teddy bear, cassette recorder, headphones, handmade afghan
Vigil
1994
Vigil was a site-specific installation that explored mortality, in which I constructed a wake-like alter in the proscenium of a repurposed a fireplace. The fireplace became a viewing area for a human body that I presented as a living corpse. In Vigil, I was interested in the theatricality and surreality of seeing an actual dead body of someone you know and loved but that no longer contains a kinetic life force in it. The living corpse, performed by Dan Millman, made subtle seemingly involuntary bodily movements: such as breathing, twitching, blinking, and occasional tossing and turning while sleeping. The performer was powdered white and wore a ceremonial suit. For Vigil, I was interested in staged deaths and the common fantasy of being present at your own funeral. I was also inspired by Joel-Peter Witkin’s macbre photos of corpses and Lenin’s Tomb. Vigil was part of Assorted Crackerjack Prizes, an exhibition that explored space, scale, and interactivity with pieces ranging from smaller art in boxes to larger room sized installations.
Metrics: 54″ wide x 40″ high x 36 “deep
Materials: human being, flowers, candles, canvas, found materials, performer’s body