I created “There’s something on your back” because I believe that oil production is the leading cause of pollution. Oil is used in the production of plastics, refined and used as fuel, the byproducts being carbon and when spilled in the ocean, and kills everything around it through suffocation or poisoning. It is the single leading cause of pollution.

There’s something on your back is a half-globe with an octopus-like creature that has pounded “straws” into the earth to suck out the oil. There’s an illuminati eye pyramid for the creatures’ head, representing the fictitious secret order that controls the world. For me it represents the uncaring nature of humanity in its’ pursuit of wealth and power. Using foam core allowed me to create “building-like” forms that emulate city skylines and buildings. The body of the beast was designed to look industrial. I had never used silicone before in this way and found that I really enjoyed how the tentacles gave the form a distinctive character and tension, a dynamic feel.

I used a half globe instead a whole because I envisioned the tentacles wrapping around like they do and also to allow for easier mounting on a wall. I wanted to also give the creature sub-dominance, giving it a parasitic feel. I used a color palette that I felt was ominous and unpleasant to view for the creature. Red for blood, black and white for a deathly pallor, and gold sheen for duplicity. The earth’s colors were meant to represent a dying world, where green and healthy has disappeared. One of the many challenges I experienced was creating something that would resonate with people and move them to recognize the jeopardy we, and future generations, all face.

Feeding Time was created as a commentary on the plastics in the ocean, and how sea creatures are consuming it as if it were a source of food. This work isn’t meant to “knock” plastics, but our stewardship of said plastics. Plastic is one of the greatest inventions known to man; it saves countless lives since its invention and enables other technologies and processes. Our wasteful nature as humans is the problem and this work speaks of that very issue. I started by creating a crab and placing it in the middle of the work to give it dominance and to intrigue the viewer from afar. Once the viewer gets closer, they can see that it is made out of the very things hanging/floating above it. The idea is that the crab is becoming what it has consumed, plastic. The coral is made of spray foam and represents the dying marine ecology, where the plastics absorb heat from the sun and retain its energy, increasing the ambient temperature of the water around it, killing the algae within the corral. My goal was to balance the whole structure so that you don’t see it when you are up close. All you see are the creatures that have become more plastic-like.  

Lastly, I created a place setting that represents what we actually consume when we eat seafood today. According to current scientific studies, microscopic plastic particles are in everything we fish out of the ocean. Bon Appetit!

Tertiary Illumination is one of those pieces meant to soothe the mind. The “heavy weight” subjects of geo-politics left me wanting solace, so I created this. An homage to Piet Mondrian’s DeStijl movement, I also used the primary colors red, yellow, and blue, but I took it a step further and gave it a three-dimensional aspect. I found this work to be challenging in the planning phase because I wanted it to hang on the wall like a 2D DeStijl piece, but also using diagonals and a planetary/molecular look that extended his theory. I placed an LED lamp in the interior to create an illuminating experience and make it more interactive.

To achieve balance all three sides would need dominant, subdominant and subordinate aspects while remaining true to each plane. It was quite the challenge. My objective was to draw the viewers eye through each side, eventually ending with a gaze upward into the illuminating center.

Tyrannical Loafers is for me, a full circle commentary piece on big corporations and how they view climate change and pollution. Some of these corporations operate as though pollution mitigation is for another day and they do what they can to get around environmental laws. Some actually engage in litigation to change those laws in their favor, while others simply dump until they’re caught. When a sitting president pushes to change laws that are supposed to protect the environment into laws that do nothing but remove protections, that’s the start of tyranny. Given the history of the world, there will always be someone with money in a position of power willing to subjugate others for personal gain. I chose the metaphor of the powerful stepping on the powerless to give the viewer a feeling of fear and powerlessness under the shoes of those that would oppress. Black pant legs and dress shoes in a static motion of stepping on the reflected face.

Tyrannical Loafers represents all those that keep the world at odds, through politics or war. With further reflection, my hope is that the viewer may realize the nature of this device and that no one should be subjected to tyranny of any kind.

Et Tu… and was designed to ask the question “Am I part of the solution or just part of the problem?” Given how much the world knows about carbon and its’ effect on climate change, are we doing enough to offset our individual and global carbon footprint? After long thought and working within the parameters of the assignment, I felt that an ornate sword piercing the Earth would make a graphic statement.

Dominant is the ornately gilded white sword; white being silent, like clouds or soft cotton, and the blade, a deadly snake that strikes to neutralize, then devour. Swords represent overt strength and have only one job; to kill. Carbon Dioxide, when in amounts too large to be absorbed quickly, causes asphyxiation and death. I chose a globe that was created in a bronze color, to help reflect the dirtiness the world has become. I chose dark, earthy colors to represent time immemorial, when the world was thought of as endless, new, and chaotic. Now, people know its dimensions, the highs and lows, its compositional make up etc. it is taken for granted and polluted.

I gave the blade tension by angling it, as if the weight of itself would shear the world in half. The blade is meant to be elegant, a visually enticing object that takes the mind away from its vicious action.

The Earth, being held up by hands from those that would consider it precious, is on a pedestal reminiscent of ancient times when concerns of global pollution and carbon dioxide was unheard of. Both sides of the blade have writing on them, one side says in Latin “Vincere Est Desperire”, translated to mean “Victory through Destruction”. This is the premise that humanity is conquering the world through innocuous means; single-use plastics, fertilization run-off, carbon emissions from automobiles, manufacturing plants, and cow farts, just to name a few. Our thoughtful ignorance has most assuredly killed us unless we change how we “see” and treat our garbage in the near future.

The other side, also in Latin, says “Et Tu…” to ask the question “Since you are also part of this, are you helping solve it?”