Magazine

How does your participation in Make-It-Pop! resonate with the exhibition's emphasis on vibrant colors, graphic styles, and ironic subject matters?

I find that my work over the years has leaned into the alluring graphic style of comics and cartoons while highlighting more coarse political and social issues many may face. I think my true intention is for everyone to have fun and enjoy the experience I craft, while having a serious but also intellectually stimulating discussion.  I think irony is important, because it connects to the absurd.  And when you can acknowledge the humor in absurdity, it indicates mature reasoning.

What are your aspirations for viewers' takeaways from experiencing your artwork showcased at the Make-It-Pop! group exhibition at InLiquid Gallery?

I think less about how an audience reacts to my work nowadays, mainly because I truly desire to only craft and show pure unadulterated expressive ideas and concepts.  But I do enjoy when viewers say they have "never seen" something like my work before, it proves my goal to always innovate and push the boundaries.

For this exhibition, you have three pieces titled SMOKINONAPUDDLEOFGAS, MORECRACKERS’N’GOVERNMENTCHEESE, and RUINEDORGASM. How do you come up with the unique and bold names of your pieces?

I have always been inspired by poetry and rap lyrics, double-entendre, allegory, etc.  Some of these titles directly refer to the visual subject matter and can most likely be deciphered.

For example: MORECRACKERS'N'GOVERNMENTCHEESE is using a derogatory term to describe the majority white people in positions of power and how they procure free government money and subsidies for their wars and selfish interests.  It feels absurd that we live in a country that truly believes (believed) in the myth of the "welfare queen" while we have actual proof of corporate welfare that steals from the public.

The video playing in this clip is the moment during a US press room briefing where the news is broken that the US is conducting a full military operation in Iraq over weapons of mass destruction.

I reexamined this time recently and how "sure" the conservative American public was that weapons would be found and that is why we need to invade. looking back I see strong parallels between the political brainwashing of then and now.  The audio is self explanatory.

Your work explores the use of technology embedded into wearable jewelry using computer-aided design and digital fabrication. Could you expand on how you utilized this for one of the pieces on view?

My practice is very reliant on the computer.  I develop, sketch and build each piece I make on the computer using a program called Rhino 3D, which is a digital modeling software.  While I build much of the forms using this program, I also use it to create seats or spaces for me to set stones.  This process also allows me to engineer internal spaces for electronic components like TV screens to inhabit.

I then 3D print some components in a special wax that I burnout and cast in metal, while others stay in a plastic resin material.  Each piece in the show is designed this way and requires a significant amount of planning and design. RUINEDORGASM is a single piece cast in aluminum,  I designed and printed this piece with all of the venting sprues for a lost wax cast.

In your statement, it states that you explore the personal need for ritual in times of instability and grief by re-contextualizing an ancient method of offering to the dead. How did you first come across this ancient method and what inspired you to employ this in your artistic expression

I was first introduced to the act of libation, when I was kid.  The whole street I grew up on, which was like 4 city blocks, but was not separated by cross streets, was the place it seemed like everyone would hangout.  At the end of the street was a couple bodegas and a gas station,  we would all buy quarter waters or sodas, and I remember one of my friends explained that "you have pour some of your drink out on the ground for someone not here".  This became a pretty common ritual in rap music videos and slowly started to become a part of my visual language when I started setting stones in my work.

My work had always been exploring themes of mourning and death, but I found it hard to relate to some of the more traditional expressions I had experienced or learned about.  Something about the communal offering and ritual felt right.

With an MFA in Jewelry and Metalsmithing from Indiana University, how experimental do you get with materials versus traditional metals?

While I was at IU, I was extremely supported to explore alternative materials and processes, I was even allowed to not make jewelry.  but that was also MY research,  the program requirements had me also work in fine metals, raising vessels and learning traditional techniques, I may never apply to my work.  But those requirements and experiences made me a better craftsperson and a better artist.