video and drawing
2006

A gentle indictment of the perils of cronyism: to function as a community, one constantly engages in practices that are sycophantic and creepy but also tender, affectionate and genuinely intimate. This is a video and drawings of Bay Area art community friends, touching each other “inappropriately”.

The piece also addresses politics and star-making: who gets picked out for that extra coat of gloss, and who doesn’t. Friends “glossed” their chosen partner’s faces with shimmering cream makeup to make them glow: their matching ink portraits were also done on similarly pearlescent mica paper. The resultant work is tender, awkward, and funny: community members work in such professional and emotional proximity to one another, but can rarely acknowledge the intense intimacy involved in this.

Continuing the questionable taste of the theme, the video is set to James Taylor’s “You’ve Got A Friend,” and sports a hazy, soft-core filter.

Inappropriate

Inappropriate

Inappropriate

Inappropriate: Jonn and Ken

Inappropriate: Laurie and Courtney

Inappropriate

Inappropriate

Inappropriate: Jaime and Pete

Inappropriate: Packard and Emily

Inappropriate: Laurie and Courtney

Inappropriate: Jonn and Ken

Inappropriate

Inappropriate: Jaime and Pete

Inappropriate

2014
drawing, web project
1989quake.com

“Earthquake Weather” is one of those great, nonsensical phrases that the Bay Area has used for years. The belief that weather might foreshadow seismic activity is a notion that has been around for centuries, but the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake is largely what popularized its use in Northern California.

Earthquake Weather is an illustrated collection of people’s personal stories of the quake.

Illustration of a contributor’s memory from the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

Illustration of a contributor’s memory from the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

Illustration of a contributor’s memory from the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

Illustration of a contributor’s memory from the 1989 Bay Area earthquake

Illustration of a contributor’s memory from the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

Illustration of a contributor’s memory from the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

Illustration of a contributor’s memory from the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

Illustration of a contributor’s memory from the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

Illustration of a contributor’s memory from the 1989 Bay Area earthquake.

2013
installation
hand-painted signs

6 large signs installed on the theatre grounds of Cal Shakes, in response to Richard Montoya’s carnivalesque play “American Night” about immigration, discrimination and citizenship. Each sign addressed related American histories in the very tongue-in-cheek style of an amusement park “attraction” advertising its perils and pleasures.

Fronteraland

Fronteraland

Fronteraland

Fronteraland

Fronteraland

Fronteraland

Fronteraland

2012
installation
Oakland Museum of California

Altar focusing on those who served as nurses, healers, and caregivers. In the arena of caregiving, everyday people achieve a remarkable balance by providing precise and rigorous care that is also highly intuitive and compassionate. To this end, the geometric wall painting pattern references the balanced, meditative patterns of Swiss artist and healer Emma Kunz. Historic images and animations of nurses and patterns flicker across 5 digital frames; the paper frames and flowers encasing each frame are hand-crafted.

Ofrenda

Altar

Altar

Altar

Altar

Altar

2012
drawings
ink and acrylic on paper

In part a formal challenge to render the ephemerality of smoke and ash in line, this project is an ongoing enquiry into pressure, change, cataclysm and consequence, and a study of natural phenomena on a global scale, focusing on historic and recent eruptions in the Philippines, Iceland, Indonesia, Japan and Italy.

Eyjafjallajökull 2011

Pinatubo 1991

Sakurajima 1986

Krakatau 1883

Grímsvötn 2011

Vesuvius 79