2023
Charcoal on paper
Originally 11” x 11” each

This is the ‘Altered’ series, a sculptural element consisting of two plinths. Both contain the torn remains of four drawings each.

Besides the wordplay between “alter” and “altar” with the naming of the series, these pieces signify locations, rather than figures. There are no figures in these drawings. The locales are meant to represent sites which are touched by grief. A home that has suffered loss. A park containing the memories of a first date for a failed relationship. A field where dreams of ownership have gone unfulfilled.

These pieces are torn up, because, much like photographs, you can stitch memories back together after grief. You can return to these places and remember the good times. But they will never be exactly the same as they were. Those scars will remain, and that’s okay.

This is where the narrative destruction of memory begins in these series. You’ll see it progress further through the next one.

Below, you’ll see the only detailed photographs remaining of the pieces before they were destroyed. Kind of poetic, that. Plus some details of the destroyed pieces, with a picture of me in the process of destroying them. Big props to Olex Wlasenko, curator of the Station Gallery, for snapping the picture of me – much as it pained him to see me tear these things up. And big props to a friend of mine for tearing up “Propelled” on opening day. I left that one intact until the show opened, wanting a gallery visitor to destroy it.