Threads
BIG RENOVATION
For the past few years I have witnessed the frantic pace of construction in the Hollywood Silverlake area where I have lived for over four decades. BIG RENOVATION is a reflection of this feverish activity prevalent in central L.A.. The ground for this piece is fiberglass mesh that is resilient enough to absorb a variety of paints, print transfers, construction materials and paper debris. Thematic and visual connections can be seen in the L.A. Random series.
Cemetery
Cemetery is a tribute to the Russian Orthodox cemetery Sainte-Geneviéve-des-Bois, located in a suburb of Paris.
The funerary grounds houses a generation of Russian immigrants who fled the Bolshevik Revolution, their relatives, and more recently Rudolf Nureyev, the acclaimed ballet dancer who defected the Soviet Union in the 60’s. This multilayered 4x8 feet collage contains an aggregate of gravesite images and monuments, texts in Cyrillic alphabet, vintage postcards, cloth and acetate print transfers encrusted with bark, earth and sediments of pigments in acrylic and oil on canvas. In the center is a window framing a short video of an old man meandering through the alleyways searching for a grave. This assemblage pays homage to the memory and resting place of my father’s peers; White Russian army soldiers, some of which I met during my trips to Paris. Currently, Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois is an endangered historic site, under threat of obliteration by the French government.
ATWATER SIDEWALKS
Labor
Labor further explores the boom of construction currently underway in Los Angeles. The central figure stands for the common laborer surrounded by strips of general activity on worksites.
This scroll-like work is suspended by a wooden dowel. The imagery surrounding the central figure is based on street photographs captured and stored on my iPhone, transferred with gel medium onto fiberglass mesh, then subsequently colorized with acrylic and oil with added texture of earth, ashes, paper debris, and powdered pigments.
MANZANAR KIMONO
After visiting Manzanar National Park, formerly Manzanar War Relocation Camp, where many thousands of Japanese Americans were incarcerated during WWII, I felt compelled to make this monumental-scale kimono, dedicated to those who suffered relocation, loss and betrayal by the U.S. government.
The front, back and sleeves of this memorial garment are imprinted with enlargements that I photographed while visiting the internment camp.
The back of the kimono displays an image of the guard tower that still stands ominously on the grounds. The front reveals pictures of rusting sleeping cots from the barracks interspersed with views of the Memorial monument. Photographs of fragments of sculptural work by artist Ruth Asawa who was interned at Manzanar, appear on the sleeves.
The fabric of the kimono is a thin polypropylene material commonly known as weed blocker. The images were transferred to the garment through the use of photocopies coated with acrylic gel medium, then pressed against the fabric. Subsequently, the surface is highlighted with acrylic paint and charcoal then rubbed with earth and ashes to provide additional texture and depth.
The enormous scale of the kimono (11’ x 6’) symbolizes the phenomenal endurance, creativity and tenacity of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans who were interned during WWII.
PAPER COWBOY
The climate, terrain and history of Western United States profoundly affected me during my recent residency with Ucross Foundation in April 2011. Generally my work depicts the human body, but for this project I explore the trappings of a figure that has attained mythological stature in America - the cowboy. Here, drawings and fabrications of Western shirts and well-worn chaps represent the hardworking, lonesome nomad.
