dead or alive

Dead or Alive was an experimental mixed media installation I made in my studio and shared with people through various open house events and dinners in 2022-2023. Composed of graphite and ink drawings, pastel on hand-cut layers of vellum, and materials normally left in the recycling bin - product ads, egg cartons, used butcher paper and more - it was inspired by environmental conditions in several places I’ve recently experienced, including Grand Canyon National Park; Laguarres, Spain; the Mojave Desert; and my home base city of Houston, Texas. On the surface these places have little in common, but the thread that connects their environmental issues (ranging from extreme drought to floods brought on by super storms) seems to be overuse, and consequentially, overdevelopment. 

The piece pulls together references from a range of sources. They include maps related to devastating weather events; aquifer depth topography; schematics of early automobile parts; electrical circuit diagrams; the above-mentioned product ads; and the image of a single, ancient, domineering, leafless tree I encountered on a multi-day solo trip into the Grand Canyon (for which I was woefully underprepared). My aim was to build tension between various parts, connections and breaks, highlighting arbitrariness of different relationships, including between the entire assemblage and the space containing it. I wanted people to look at the surface and imperfections in the wall it was mounted on, the electrical plugs and switches in the room, the beams and conduits in the ceiling. I saw it as incomplete: an opening or beginning of something to be completed in the mind of whomever looked at it, according to their own experiences or desires. 

At the time I finished Dead or Alive, I wrote about the inspirations and personal experiences that lead me to make it. Read about them here.