Assemblage

Small engines dominate the suburban soundscape these days. Lawnmowers, chainsaws, leafblowers, powerwashers and shop vacs all contribute their signature noises to the soundtrack of our lives. Lawn Toy is a parody of these useful but infuriating devices.

Pencil Box is about our obsession with quantity over quality. It contains 48 very short pencils standing upright in a wooden case. Obviously, a 1 inch long pencil is of limited value but the owner has stored each one carefully and methodically. It is this impulse that will ultimately be our downfall as we strip the planet of its resources to make more unnecessary junk.

Tool Box contains a broken hammer and is marked “Dad” on the outside. Its shape is meant to vaguely evoke the notion of a coffin or casket as well as a tool box. On one level, it is simply a portrait of my father. On another level, the intention is to remind the viewer that an all-powerful authority figure doesn’t always have the tools or the ability to step in, fix the problem and save the day. This should be self-evident but, in practice, often catches us by surprise as we fall prey to wishful thinking.

Paddle Toy is meant as a humorous critique of the macho posturing and gymnastic noodling associated with much contemporary guitar music as well as of my own childish fascination with the instrument. It is based on the children’s toy of the same name that consists of a rubber ball connected to a wooden paddle with an elastic cord. With this toy, one swats the ball repeatedly up and down with the paddle until one either makes a mistake or gets bored and gives up. Either way, there is really no “destination” in a game of paddle ball. It is an activity entirely dedicated to isolated self-gratification and raw endurance…just like the fret board histrionics of some of our guitar heroes.

The electronic gaming industry entered my consciousness long ago when it created "Pong" and "improved" the game of Ping Pong by removing all traces of physical activity from it. At the time, I thought that this was just another passing fad like pet rocks or fondue sets. Little did I know how wrong I was. Electric Toy Box is dedicated to those visionary geniuses who have turned us into a nation of couch-potatoes.

Egg Box is about temptation. If the white handle is pulled, three dozen eggs roll out of the chute. Since it is impossible to catch them all, a sticky mess is the inevitable result. However, even though we can imagine the outcome, we are tempted to see if it really does work. So we try the handle anyway. The piece is meant to be a visual analogue of the mental process whereby we ignore the warnings of our imagination and give in to temptation, knowing full well the chaos that will ensue. Smoking, speeding, over-eating or adultery comes to mind as examples. We know exactly what we are getting into but dive in anyway heedless of the consequences.

The term “bean counter” generally refers to any person who reduces life to a small-minded accounting of credits and debits. This piece is about that part in all of us that engages in the quantification of experience at the expense of quality. I’ve chosen to clog the system with too many beans to indicate that this process can be counter-productive.

Nut Box is designed to vaguely resemble an old-fashioned fire alarm. It houses a hammer on a short chain that is meant to be used to break the glass in case of an emergency. A large acorn from the locally famous McBain burr oak tree is under the glass. The intent of the piece is to remind the viewer that there are no quick fixes for the damage we do to the planet. In case of environmental emergency we can’t simply break the glass, plant the acorn and instantly re-forest the earth.

Ammo Box is meant to be a humorous look at the absurdity involved in any consciously self-destructive behavior. The viewer is faced with what looks to be the barrel of a gun pointing directly in his or her face. The device is triggered by the handles on either side of the box. In order to hold the two handles, the viewer makes an unavoidable target of themselves. Hopefully, the ridiculousness of this situation is self-evident and the viewer chooses not to activate the piece.

Based on the phrase “Rat Race”, Office Cooler is about the de-humanizing aspects of corporate culture. The small pipettes protruding from the four sides are those used in the water-bottles of rodent cages.

Humans are in a perpetual state of vague dissatisfaction. On one hand, this is the impulse that caused us to crawl out of the proverbial swamp in the first place. On the other hand, it is also the impulse that causes us to burn up the world’s resources as we “upgrade” and “fix” things that don’t necessarily need fixing. These simple wooden spoons have been “improved” through the addition of imaginary electric motors. They are now more complex, more expensive, more delicate and more awkward to use and therefore, more better.

Ball Box was conceived of as the companion piece to Egg Box. Interactivity is implied through the inclusion of a handle on the front of both works. However, with Ball Box, the viewer can't readily see the consequences of giving in to temptation and pulling the handle. It is left up to the imagination whether or not the balls in the dispenser will be delivered gently or with lethal force. The story that inspired this piece was that of the first nuclear test detonation. Apparently, the scientists involved were not 100% sure that the bomb wouldn't ignite the atmosphere and end life on the planet but they pushed the button anyway.

Gas Box is about the explosive power of art and ideas. The top of a propane tank with two valves in it makes up the upper half of the piece. The viewer is asked to imagine that raw gas would be released through the open pipettes on the lower half if the valves were opened. Therefore, the preconditions for an explosive situation would result from any interaction with the artwork. The small, inconspicuous and decorative nature of the design is meant to contrast with the potential consequences of misuse.

Flag Box is a critique of the mindset that equates militarism with patriotism. Rows of projectiles morph into the red and white stripes of the American Flag. The over-all color scheme is composed of bright Fisher-Price kiddy-toy primaries in order of expose the shallow, unsophisticated nature of such thinking.

This piece is based on the old children’s game “Operation”. In that game, contestants tried to remove internal organs from a patient without touching the sides of the body cavity and triggering a buzzer. If the buzzer went off, the patient died. In this fashion, many of us have come to view medical science like a game of “Operation”. We believe that anything can be fixed as long as the surgeon has a steady hand. When we find out that our lungs can’t simply be replaced, we feel betrayed.

Eye Box plays on Robert Morris' I-Box of 1962. I have substituted 13 wooden "eyes" for the autobiographical "I" in his work. Since the number 13 is considered unlucky, I want the viewer to contemplate the unlucky "I" or self, accumulating the inevitable lumps and bumps as it progresses through life. In other words, this piece is a reminder of the inward-looking self-pity that we all wallow in but would do best to suppress.

Noise Box is meant to look like a microphone hanging from a speaker cabinet on a very short cable. Any real microphone, so positioned, would cause a screeching, runaway feedback loop to occur if activated. Hopefully, viewers will come to the conclusion that it is best not to use this contraption if they value their hearing. As such, Noise Box is meant as a cautionary object. In these days of ever-expanding social media (face-booking, blogging, tweeting, twitting, whatever) we have become so enamored of the sound of our own voices that we amplify our most mundane thoughts to the level of white noise. In the words of David Byrne, “Everyone’s talking a lot but nobody’s saying anything.” This piece is about the endless gibberish we project at high volume.

Honey Box is a companion piece to Milk Box and plays on the same ideas. As a potentially interactive dispenser of honey, it shows how art can offer us nourishment. Since it evolved from the phrase "milk and honey", once I made the Milk Box, this piece almost made itself.

I often use a saying or phrase to direct my work. With Dust Cart I was trying to give form to the sentiments contained in the old lament "ashes to ashes, dust to dust". This quote expresses the view that human beings are really just temporarily animated, mobile columns of dust subject to collapse given the slightest shake. In this light, Dust Cart is just a metaphorical abstraction of the human body meant to make light of our inflated sense of self-importance.

A reliquary is an elaborate container for venerated objects. Since these objects are often human bone fragments that allegedly belonged to saints and other holy personages, one can think of a reliquary as a bone box. As I set about making one, I asked myself what sort of object would have meaning for a contemporary American audience? Since we tend to put our faith in human systems these days rather than in Devine intervention, I chose a short electric power cord. We put our faith in an abundant and ever-present supply of inexpensive electric energy the way a medieval monk might place his faith in an ever-present God.

Milk Box is meant to look like an oddly elaborate dispenser for milk. As such, it is really just an abstract interpretation of the female body, one of the most common, archetypal themes in the visual arts. But dispensing milk isn't a trivial matter. It's what separates us as mammals from other orders of the animal kingdom since mammals are defined by the presence of mammary glands in the female. As a hypothetically interactive piece, Milk Box is intended to demonstrate that art can really nourish us spiritually and intellectually the way our mothers once did physically.

Attach a joy-stick to a paint brush and you get a machine for making art. As such, Paint Box is neat and tidy, orderly, well behaved and a bit sterile. Just like so much computer art.

The previous owner of my house hung nesting boxes in the trees to encourage squirrels to take up residence on his property. As I began to renovate and re-decorate my own nest, my home, I came to the realization that the human nesting instinct isn't very different from that of other animals. Even though most suburban homes are little more than glorified packing-crates, we customize them to proclaim our individuality and status to others of our species. In recognition of this phenomenon, I decided to upgrade one of my newly acquired squirrel boxes by tiling the interior, adding plumbing and roofing it in copper. Finally, I cast a bronze doorknocker for the entrance in order to impress visitors.

Dead Letter Box is about ideas that go nowhere. As a combination of a letter box and a trashcan, it embodies the frustration I feel with my level of productivity as an artist. The title refers to a time when people used to actually write letters to each other in order to communicate. A "dead-letter" was one that was addressed incorrectly or illegibly and was, therefore, undeliverable.

Even though we have insulated ourselves from direct contact with her as much as possible, Mother Nature still manages to surprise us with her capricious violence every now and then. When this happens, our best defensive systems usually prove comically inadequate. Levees break during floods, sea-walls collapse in the face of tsunamis and forest-fires erase entire subdivisions while fire-fighters stand by helplessly. Hail Damaged Hull Plate was done after one particularly memorable storm here in mid-Missouri. It is meant to represent the pock-marked surface of a heavy steel plate. Obviously, hail shouldn’t be able to do this but, as an exaggerated artifact, it is meant to remind us that nature will always have the last word.

This piece is about the process whereby we rationalize and sanitize our individual and collective history. Grim reality, as represented by five bloody ax handles, is fed into the system, processed and emerges as cheerful red and white bunting. Understandably, no one likes to admit that they were wrong but those who live in denial aren't necessarily healthy either and, more importantly, are likely to repeat their mistakes.

The phrase “Smile, God loves you” is arrogantly presumptuous. How can anyone claim to know the mind of God? For all we know, God might love us because we taste good. This would be more in keeping with the Mayan or Aztec vision of the cosmos. For this reason, I’ve juxtaposed a pseudo-pre-Columbian image with this trite Christian saying in order to expose the smug self-righteousness at the heart of most religious belief systems.

Instead of carrying a re-fillable water bottle, many of us opt for the convenience of commercially bottled water packaged in disposable containers thereby adding innumerable tons of waste to our landfills. In order to create Melt Down, I asked a few friends and family members to save their empty water bottles rather than throw them out. I then attached them to the gallery wall by their caps and used a heat gun to melt them into a cascading wave- form. The title refers directly to this process but is also meant to conjure up images of environmental catastrophes such as nuclear core meltdowns and evaporating icecaps.

Pogrom is a Russian word that, as I understand it, basically translates to mean, "ethnic cleansing". It refers to organized, often state-sponsored, violence directed at an ethnic group or minority. In the case of this piece, I use the term to focus the viewer's attention on organized violence directed against ideas or, in other words, censorship. Each of the three books in this triptych encountered state-sponsored censorship at some level due to "naughty" content. They are (from left to right): Portnoy's Complaint, Ulysses and Lady Chatterley's Lover. They have been shot full of holes with a variety of firearms to indicate their status as victims.

This piece consists of my old childhood playpen filled to the brim with 351 paperback romance novels. As such, it contrasts the infinite promise of infancy with the questionable achievements of adulthood. Like the author who hoped to write the great American novel but ended up cranking out cheap romance novels instead, I wonder if I'll ever be able to live up to my own expectations.

Hose Box is about any human system that feeds back on itself, cancels itself out or works at cross-purposes to itself. The circular logic of Joseph Heller's Catch 22 comes to mind.

Like Ammo Box, Space Heater is another so-called "tool" that would be very dangerous to its user. Consisting of modified propane and acetylene tanks, it is meant to look like it would spew flame for several feet in all directions if it were actually lit. As such, it is meant to embody any self-destructive behavior that should be obviously avoided but only becomes evident in retrospect. It is dedicated to my ex-neighbors who tried to dry their newly re-finished floors with space heaters and ended up burning down their house. Luckily, no one was hurt.

The figure inside Bread Box is meant to look like it is made of baked bread that has been divided into slices. Traditionally, bread is considered to be a basic necessity of life and has inspired sayings such as "give us this day our daily bread". Shaped into the form of a nude woman, I want the viewer to contemplate how we carve each other up and consume each other in the pursuit of that other necessity of life; physical intimacy.