PUPPETRY Projects
I have been making my own puppets since I was a young kid. Little did I know then that I would still be getting to make them so many years later and actually get paid for them!
I focus mostly on shadow puppetry in my own personal projects, but that isn't a truism by any means and I can build a client any type of puppet that they can imagine and afford.
That said, I am a big believer in the "keep it simple stupid" school of solving technical design challenges. Nothing screws up a project more than adding unnecessary technology...
So, while thousand dollar animatronics are cool, the most emotionally intense and memorable performances I have seen have been simple puppets in the hands of very well trained puppeteers. I have also seen novice performers tell the most profound of stories using only their hands, a few found objects and lots of imagination.
DANZ Theatre
I began working for dance companies while I was working on my masters degree in the New England area of the Eastern United States... an acquaintance had a gig running tech for a dance festival and needed someone to pass the job on to as they couldn't do it anymore and years later I still do the work when I can.
I've always enjoyed dance. In many ways I feel it is a more pure form of emotive performance than traditional acting or western dramatic stage narrative and it is a joy to get to design for.
Throughout the years I have photographed a lot of the dancers and dance projects I have gotten to be involved with. Those images comprise a huge part of my performance photographic archives.
The HEADSTONE Project
Started during the pandemic (as did so many things,) when I was fortunate enough to be hired by the Wood County Museum to help the curator maintain and update the exhibits and help maintenance with the upkeep of the historic building(s). At the time, the museum was closed to the public which afforded me the opportunity to photograph the buildings and grounds un-impeded by anyone other than museum staff. It was during this period that I started the project of creating a photographic portrait of each one of the headstones standing in the cemetery.
The idea was to treat each headstone as a person and try to find a sense of character and purpose for each “numbered stone.” It was also an artistic challenge for myself in trying to come up with unique compositions for each and every headstone, which essentially, are all similar repeating white rectangles stuck in the ground.
It was also an attempt to document a neglected and relatively obscure part of the American landscape. In neglecting such histories we risk forgetting the individuals who helped to create and mould who we are today. The histories of the poor and disenfranchised are just as important as those of the wealthy and powerful, if not even more so. A society is remembered for how it treats its people, not in how it treats its rulers.
NO TRESPASSING! The Closed Door Project
Closed doors in old buildings and out of the way places have always fascinated me, especially when they are locked and say cryptic things like "No Trespassing" or "Forbidden". I mean, that's just begging for people to open them and molest the threshold as they say...
Really, I think a lot of the discussion around restriction of access to property should not be framed in terms of trespass and ownership but it terms of class and social regulation. That said, public safety is a real issue (I trust the government to keep me safe even less than I trust them to keep things fair and equal) and while I do document the doors I never do go beyond them.
Catholic FETISH
I am not a religious person but growing up in the American Southwest and Northern Mexico gave me a unique perspective into catholic culture in its many manifestations as interpreted by the local populations in those areas.
As a designer and a performance artist, the design and function of the church and temple as a sacred space has always been a source of great marvel (and study.) The whole idea of a sacred space is as profound as it is profane, yet the concept seems to be eternally interlocked with our ideas of faith and specifically worship.
As an artist I have been drawing and photographing churches, graveyards, religious buildings, sacred spaces, and temples my whole life. Which is honestly quite funny, if you knew me.
INDUSTRIAL foto
Industrial art and music has been a part of my life since I was a teenager. Little did I know then that the concept of industrial went far beyond the worlds of music and performance art.
Still, the idea of manufactured disruption as a style that can be voiced through a set aesthetic techniques I still find intriguing to explore, especially in my photographs.
LE PETIT Portrait
For a number of years I did small original paintings for a group called Art-o-mat, which placed refurbished cigarette machines into all sorts of different types of spaces and venues, which sold art instead of cigarettes. The challenge was you had to make the art fit into a box that was basically the size of a pack of cigs and also weighed about the same (turns out those old machines are pretty particular!)
Lots of fun. However, when I started my PhD I could not keep up doing them as I put so many hours into each series I did for them that they slightly drove me mad. I may in the future do them again, never say never ever right?