In response to Gaza...

From the series Black & Blue
Ink Jet Print on Paper
2009


I have recently joined an art group called Artnauts which was started at the University of Colorado at Boulder by Professor George Rivera. We have our first group exhibition of the year in Oaxaca, Mexico next month. The title of the show is Azag: Mirroring War and we have been asked to create work responding to what has been taking place in Gaza.

The piece I have created uses mutilated doll parts that I contact printed onto paper coated with Cyanotype. Unfortunately I am allergic to this wonderful process, so I have to limit my contact with the chemicals. I wanted to make an edition of the piece to submit to a political art show at Anderson Ranch and a possible exhibition with Artnauts in Gaza....so I headed for the scanner and layered the cyanotype imagery with a map of Israel and Palestine and printed it on my ink jet printer. Fortunately the scanned image still retains the quality of the hand applied emulsion.

The title of the series, Black & Blue, is both a reference to the blue printing process I am using and the terrible atrocities being committed to people on both sides of the issue. After I completed the piece, a friend commented that the body parts resemble milagros, which is fitting since the piece is about violence and healing. This is the second image in the series (the first is about nuclear power and the environment) that I have created and I plan to continue working with the cyanotype process, my scanner, and issues that are important to me.

The many faces of Cori.

My best friend Cori Chavez asked me to update her photo for her websites. Her friend Beverly Green, a professional stylist, came over and did her hair and make-up. Once the lights were set-up I started shooting away. After a few minutes of shooting, I showed a few images to Cori, and she said we were done! I persuaded her to have me shoot a few more, but it was still one of the fastest shoots I have ever had. The best part was trying to think of silly ways to make Cori's natural smile appear...we had some good laughs!

Self-conscious

Self-Conscious
3- 7.25” x 4.5” x 1.625”
Book Cloth, Plexiglas, Romance Novel
2009

The fact is that poetry is not the books in the library . . .

Poetry is the encounter of the reader with the book,
the discovery of the book.
Jorge Luis Borges from a lecture entitled "Poetry," 1977

Reading is an act of translation and the “book” functions as a convenient package to present information, ideas, and diversion. While in the act of reading, our minds transgress the object delivering the message. I am using the self-reflexive structure of the book to create visual poetry. Instead of ignoring the physical properties of the book I am calling attention to them. By using familiar language or expectations I am asking the reader to consider the book as an integral part of their translation. The structure of the book becomes the poetry.

My newest piece titled Self-Conscious consists of three identical looking books each approximately the size of an “A Format” paperback novel (4.33" x 7.01"). Inside the books house folded pages from one discarded mass-market romance novel.

This piece has just been accepted into a show titled Words Works at the Abecedarian Gallery in Denver. The show runs March 6th -April 18th.