Sunday, December 27, 2009

it wasn't long before they escorted me off the perimeter...

it's around three in the morning and i had been driving all day, things looked so much more innocent earlier, but now everything had turned, people were close by, and i wasn't really sure what was going on in there ...

... it's a post 9-11 world, and we're all looking out more now, keeping an eye out for our neighbors, for people we don't recognize, staying closer to home, and living around what we think we feel is safety ...

... the lights are playing tricks at this point, half tired, pushing to stay alert, to discover what others are feeling inside their private sanctuaries of subdued urban comfort ...

... not trying to make anyone unduly uncomfortable, pretty sure the police are out looking for me at this point ... exploring, seeing, sort of drifting and feeling my way around here - why are " they " still awake?

... turn a corner and it becomes more menacing, the dark night is intensifying more rapidly than it had just an hour before, less people, but they all have a different energy level, far more neurotic, and i still have to navigate and keep an eye out.

it always feels good in the dark, it feels hypnotic and sexual and exciting, like anything can happen in the next moment ...

Thursday, December 17, 2009

what kind of a rebel carries both a pistol and a badge?

elvis was just a man reading the paper ... but at the same time was creating a revolution in american music and was about to change forever in the worlds eyes ...

... he would get ready for the day just like the rest of us; out of shower, groomed, ready ...

... but years later, he would carry an authorized federal narcotics badge, a symbol that carries with it the opposite image of his earlier years, a loaded symbol of authority - what was elvis now saying to us, to himself?

... wouldn't we like to carry one of these identity badges too? what do our things say about us, how do we reconcile the different aspects of our personality, of our aspirations?

... then, he would be pulled at by the world's image of him, stripped of his earlier identity, his public image was being remolded and formed anew ..


still holding precariously onto his earlier status, there was always that glimmer that shone from deep within him - he was still this man " king " sitting atop a throne to so many ...

... but what was really going on deep inside of him, what conflicting identities was elvis still struggling to reconcile?

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

laying down on the ground ... were stacks of targets with bullet holes elvis had shot out ...

coming off the road, elvis liked to let off some steam ...

... who are these people in silloutte, what were the frustrations that were being expelled from the business end of his pistol?

the images looked different in his mind, as they looked different in mine making these Emulsion and gelatin paintings, I was seeing fragments, a discharge of ideas, making my point with liquified emulsion as elvis was making his with bullets ...

... the canvas stretched around the frame as elvis's mood was stretched around his mind, all the forces and people pulling at him, everyone wanting a piece of him ..

... elvis's gun would soon be aiming at a new target ...

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

authenticity: making real an image the public has made unreal

elvis on his bicycle on a backlot in hollywood, an immediate juxtaposition of real vs unreal, man vs image, representation vs innocence ...

and then the interpretation of the innocence is again brought back to media form ...

as an artist i'm removing the initial context and isolating the conversation, placing elvis's legacy, the public's perceptions and contemporary art into a renewed dialogue.

... using old media to tell a new story, here taking the source material used to make the artwork above, a photo-polymer gravure print, edition of 25 works, 22 x 30 inches, and here making a unique Emulsion and gelatin painting, 45 x 54 inches, applying brushstrokes of liquified emulsion and then dripping stain and gelatin onto the canvas in the dark, I then project the negative/positive image of elvis onto the surface of the painted canvas, then process this material in the darkroom, markmaking and stains still visible on the surface, thus again moving the image into another contextual place.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

object of authority

This artifact work pairs the Federal Narcotics badge, given to Elvis by President Nixon in 1970, with his own custom-made Colt 45 semi-automatic pistol.

... establishing the paradox between Elvis’s well known rebel reputation against his lifelong obsession with authority.

The chine colle ( collage ) element brings the viewer closer to the authentic “feel” of the physical object itself - displayed here under glass at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, PA - this work takes on a new resonance by its exhibition as an object of an object ....

... and again here this same work can be seen juxtaposed against Warhol's Elvis in the background - we can see where Warhol focused on the iconic aspects of Elvis Presley, my works are more about relating to the more mortal man behind all the publicity and hype - connecting us to the private objects he connected to as way of connecting to the more personal aspects of Elvis's personality - exploring the things that connect us back to him.

Friday, December 4, 2009

printed and marked

elvis related to police officers ...

opposing his rebel image with authority, he was printed and marked by the memphis police department ..

to represent this physical act was my challenge in representing this highly personal action of his Elvis's printing, and also in this kinetic action that surrounds art-making .....

making this gravure incorporates a process of thoughts and actions, perhaps akin to that of what elvis himself experienced ...

fragmented in our thoughts of who we may become, who we connect to and all the disparate thoughts and ideas in our heads, adjusting our mental picture as a way of discovery ...

then we make private selections on how best to represent our own individuality, uncovering and revealing this kinetic duality between who we are and who we wish we could be.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Elvis the man

Scott's prolific plunge into the archives of the Elvis Presley Estate have successfully served, at once, to reveal in dazzling, multi-faceted detail the objects pulling Presley’s affection and, in the same moment, to communicate the juxtaposed ideals of the storied idol as both man and myth in a raw, visual narrative that illuminates divided public perceptions. This is a rare view of Elvis Presley behind closed doors - a reflection on the man behind the public's limited view - Elvis as seen in very human form.

Tell Me, When Did You First Figure Out Who You Were?

How did you know?

And, can I know?



For me, art is the pursuit of identity, of authenticity, that of my subjects--the real America, the real Elvis--and my own, in the contrast they offer me. Consider it the Elvis question: when you leave the room, just WHO has left the room?