An Unlikely Narrative Wrung From Non-Being and Loneliness
20' x 10'. Mixed media installation. 2004
home, D.U.M.B.O. Arts Center, Brooklyn, New York
This installation featured our failing hero, Super Silver Monkey, wielding only his intimacy issues and what appears to be a kitchen knife. And directly to his right, with more ambiguous intentions, Chavish, the bodyguard/assassin/ghost of failed rescue.
This work maps their domestic life out of the Superduo spotlight, where they finally have the mental time and space to ask the questions that the less-super rest of us do . . .
Character Analysis #1: Chavish
Dimensions variable. Mixed media installation. 2003
Snowbirds and Streetfights, Bower Gallery, San Antonio, Texas
This installation analyzed the character of Chavish, the bodyguard / scorned lover to Super Silver Monkey. The text on the wall outlined what I know about this bird . . .
A. yellow
A1. sometimes
B. sexy southern rocker
B1. I thought you would be taller
C. dead, apparently
C1. drowned (see x’s over eyes)
C2. biological warfare
D. ghost of failed rescue
D1. lived in building with Charlotte
D1a. used to date Guadalupe
D1a1. scorned love flooded house
D1b. was starting to fall for Sing
D1b1. lived above Charlotte
D1b2. would rather feel her absence than nothing
D1c. successful physical rescue by Super Silver Monkey (see E2)
D1d. sister to Isadora
D1d1. witnessed flood
D1d2. said nothing
D1d2a. holds the leverage of complicity over Guadalupe
D.2. birds go first
E. sidekick
E1. never clever enough to fully compensate for his inherent shortcomings
E1a. not all ducks swim (see C1)
E2. some monkeys glow silver with charisma
E2a. super power #1. fly. fly. fly.
E2b. super power #2. feel power of:
E2b1. remorse
E2b2. guilt
E2b3. longing
E2b4. self doubt
F. potential assassin
F1. one gets tired of waiting
G. doleful
H. white
H1. sometimes
Character Analysis #2: Sing
Dimensions variable. Mixed media installation. 2003
Troy, New York
Sing seems a very vulnerable character.
This installation could only be viewed through a reflection in a mirror that was visible through the open door of a closet. In turn, the viewer could only see the open closet door by peeping through the window of an exterior door. It made the viewing require an intimacy born of voyeurism that seemed appropriate to Sing’s character.
Regarding Sing:
a. Has *one soft chair in his living room and one red ball cap to make him feel n-n-normal.
b. Would rather feel the unpleasant something that accompanies Charlotte than the nothing nothing that preceded her.
c. Whenever he hears Charlotte taking a shower downstairs, he stands, sometimes clothed, in his own bathtub, convinced he can smell her essence.
d. Is aware he is regarded as an objective condition . . . as in
“I don’t have time for this.”
or
“Were you always like this”?
* This is all he has in his living room. Since their apartments are laid out the same, he can more easily picture her moving around.
All the Tiny Departures
25' x 10'. Mixed media installation. 2004
Terrible Danger Ahead, Pelham Arts Center, Pelham, New York
Ch-Ch-Charlotte—a rabbit-headed figure who is not gifted with much social grace or self-awareness, but she does have quite an energetic subconscious.
It manifests itself in her mystical relationships with everyday objects and birds.
Where the other characters become more defined through their relationships with each other,
Ch-Ch-Charlotte reveals herself in the world she creates in a bar of soap, a bottle of perfume, or a hardbound book.
Leaving Visibility
Dimensions variable, Mixed media installation, 2004
Rent to Own, Virginia Commonwealth University Gallery, Richmond, Virginia
What I knew from the start was that Lily was a white wolf. And very, very small. And invisible. The very small part didn’t bother me, but I couldn’t get past the invisible part, so this installation at VCU became an attempt to define how one becomes invisible, using Lily the White Wolf as a guide...
Acknowledgments
Sincere thanks are due to the following humans and institutions for their contributions to these projects by way of their: interest, support, inspiration, food, skills, generosity, love, shelter, jacuzzi, tolerance, ability to roll over on command, general righteousness and/or power tools:
M. A. Keller, Mary Flinn, Blackbird, Elizabeth King, Carlton Newton, Sally Bowring, Caroline Henne, Richard Roth, Connie Brown, Joe Seipel, Phillip Perrine, La La, Terri Brown, David Duncan, Rebecca Westcott, Elizabeth Saperstein, Pelham Arts Center, Patrick Barth, Igor Vamos, John Orth, Michael and Joey, The Bower, Tina Mullen, Celeste Roberge, Bruce Brown, Joy Glidden, D.U.M.B.O. Arts Center, Eddie Bartolomei, Cinders Gallery, The City Reliquary, Dave Herman, Jesse James, erock, Leslie Harding, Emily MacDonald-Korth, Scout, Santito