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Forty-third series: See Me Tell Me Shifts: 36 Views of the Ruins of Zuccotti, ed. 100

This is the fourth of my See Me Tell Me Shifts series. The shifts are based on the thin, simple, summer dresses worn by fashionable New York women. The imagery for this newest series are the views of the now empty Zuccotti Square, the site of the small village of the Occupy Wall Street Movement that existed from September 17-November 15, 2011 until it was erased from existence. Each dress is made from 7 to 4 inch long piece of Japanese rice paper cut in the shape of a sundress. On the front is one of the 36 views of the empty square in homage to the great ukigo-e printmaker Hiroshige. The string sash has a face bead that refers to the human microphone employed by the protestors and the word “occupy” in letter beads. On the back are images of botanical rhizomes, symbolic of the social media networks that spread the word of the Occupy movement around the world. Included is a small plastic bag full a grass seed, a type of rhizome that symbolizes the growth and spread of the movement. This series was commissioned by Revolt Magazine. 25 of the works will be given away by the magazine and the rest will be placed out in the world.

Did you see one or add one to your collection? Tell me about it.

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Forty-second series: Subway Tokens, ed. 100
Carry this token in your pocket or bag next to your metro card and you will always get a seat on the subway, your train will arrive on time, and the interesting person sitting across from you will look up from their book and into your eyes. 

This is the third of my bound series. Wrapping, binding and tying is a method used by outsider and visionary artists as well artists of the Congo and ancient Egypt. The string, rope, thread, ribbon, as well as the charms and trinkets threaded in and among the windings attract and concentrate spiritual energy within the object empowering it to fulfill an intended purpose. In this case extra magic was added with the images of my fellow subway riders. While sitting across from them I was inspired to photograph some of the more beatific and make them into art. For this series I applied their faces to the tokens as “saints of the subway” in the mode of Byzantine icons. Each amulet consists of beads, buttons, sequins, and other various objects invested in plaster wrapped in string, floss, and wire with bells at the ends of the dangling strands. Their edition numbers are written on the verso and they are placed in a 2 x 3 ½ inch poly bag with the title of the series and the QR code on the back. This series was commissioned by RevoltMagazine. 25 of the works will be given away by the magazine and the rest will be placed out in the world.

Did you see one? Tell me about it?