(NON-)PERISHABLE II, 2023-ongoing
Various Media
Part of the “(Non-)Perishable” series, these sculptural works are relics from future pasts. Ruminating on grotesque realities and referencing paintings from the series, each artwork presents macabre relics from long-extinct Homostultus ‘civilization’. This series dives into the world of this species and looks at it from a future lens, mirroring present realities and questioning humancentric values and constructs that attribute high value to objects such as monuments as opposed to objects that are degraded to low value such as refuse and trash.
STULTUS SKULL, 2023
Mixed Media Installation | Stonernware clay & moss
Human-scale skull, varied dimensions
Part of the “(Non-)Perishable” series, a ceramic sculpture that delves into the existential dialogue between decay and endurance. This three-eyed skull, resting solemnly on a bed of moss and encircled by bone remains, is not merely an object of macabre fascination. Instead, it serves as a poignant reflection on the perpetual cycle of consumption and disposal that characterizes our current era.
Drawing inspiration from the overarching themes of the series, this sculpture reflects the grotesque beauty and irony of our consumerist culture. The three eyes of the skull symbolize the heightened awareness and insight required to recognize the detrimental impacts of our actions on the environment, and ultimately our survival.
FOSSILIZED TURDPIDOS, 2023
Bronze
2.5” X 2.5” x8” (each)
A trio of bronze sculptures that expand upon the disquieting narrative introduced in the “IV. Turdpido’s Poop Baggies (Sea Turtle: Hawksbill, Leatherback and Green Turtles)” artwork. This series of cast bronze sculptures transforms the transient and discarded remnants of our consumer culture into lasting symbols of our environmental apathy. Specifically, these sculptures depict three plastic bags, each encapsulating what resembles human feces, a stark and uncomfortable metaphor for the waste we leave in our wake.
The choice of bronze as a medium is deliberate and filled with irony. Historically, bronze has been used to immortalize heroes and significant events, to celebrate beauty and achievement. In stark contrast, these sculptures use this noble material to immortalize waste, specifically the single-use plastic bags that pose a lethal threat to marine life, as highlighted in the original “Turdpido’s” poster. By casting these ephemeral items into a ‘permanent’ form, I aim to underscore the long-lasting impact of these supposedly disposable products. Each sculpture in the series is a grotesque testament to the disregard we show towards our environment and the creatures that inhabit it. The bags, detailed with painstaking realism, seem almost to swell with the waste they contain, a visceral representation of the suffocation and destruction wrought upon life by plastic pollution.