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I made these just after returning to California after nearly 7 years away, living my best life in Peru. There I was teaching art to hundreds of kids a week, surfing every day, in a relationship, etc. Life was great - then family responsibility brought me back to Sacramento, the last place on earth I ever wanted to live! Long story short, the benches were made with love, sweat and tears, grieving for Peru while rediscovering my roots and the traditions that made me: California craft, Funk Art, hippies and Hells Angels. They feel great to the touch, fingers follow the waves filled with bubble text, barely legible, you need time to figure out what they say, if inclined.
The poems refer to the sea, two are excerpts from famous ones that are in the public domain, one by me and one is not in public domain, so I’ll let it sit in silence.
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Out of the rolling ocean came a drop gently to me whispering I love you.
Out of the rolling ocean the crowd
by Walt Whitman
For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) it’s always ourselves we find in the sea
maggie and milly and molly and may
by ee cummings
Waves roll free, secure in their routines, fixed by divine equations
mine
For years I made work about power structures and the interconnectivity of cultures through the exchange of money using the barcode as the unifying flag of the world. Desire, excess, lack, desperation - money creates heavy emotional weight and is a subject I continue to explore.
With a deep connection to the natural world I find it increasingly difficult to reconcile humanity’s insatiable desire with limited resources. Since 2017 I decided to only create art from materials I find, are given to me or I acquire second hand.
"One Map" 2004 ink on paper, 52”H x 42”L
"Map of the Galaxy" 2013 India ink on paper 44”H x 44”W
Four benches made of reclaimed California Redwood carved with lines of poetry. Each is 18”H x 60”L x 12”D. Made in 2018.
"Poetic Pool" 2015 India ink on paper 60”H x 21”L
