Showing Images From American Cyclops
Solo Show of Paintings/Sculptures, July, 2006
Iguapop Gallery, Bacelona, Spain
Artist’s Statement (In Retrospect):
This year was probably the biggest turning point in my career thus-far. The first of two shows was “American Cyclops”. Because the show was going to be in Spain, I decided to do some research on Spanish and American history. There is obviously a lot of history there, but what really piqued my interest was the connection of early American political theory to Iroquois law and Freemasonry. It was fascinating to me to see the idealism and cooperation that was involved at the early stages of this country and then how quickly it was corrupted. I looked at the delusional nature of manifest destiny and the sense of entitlement that comes hand-in-hand with some forms of spiritual belief. I started to think about my cyclops character, “Helper” as a symbol of a corrupt man. He’s a man that becomes a monster because he believes he knows the will of god. He becomes so delusional that he starts to think that he is god. The idea made me look at my own sense of entitlement and how I had become corrupt. I was in the middle of something like an emotional breakdown and I felt like so many of the projects that I had started on years ago had lost their way. I was also on the verge of turning 40 so I guess that probably had something to do with all of this self-evaluation and doubt. I created an image of this beautiful tree of life with Helper in it. He’s got an axe. I hope that the meaning is clear.