2012
video document
produced with the art organization No Longer Empty and Bronxnet Television

premiered in:
“This Side of Paradise,” presented by No Longer Empty at the Andrew Freedman Home, Bronx NY, 2012

This film follows the format of the original S.O.S, made in 2004. S.O.S. Reloaded asks residents from diverse neighborhoods of the Bronx his or her message to the President of the United States. Each person is then video taped staring into the camera while his or her heartbeat is audio recorded. In the finished product, the transcribed message to the President scrolls below each Bronx resident’s silent video portrait, while the amplified sound of the individual’s heartbeat marks each person’s words. S.O.S contains communication that is both personal and critical to the President, from the rich to the poor, straight from the street. A copy of this video has been sent to President Obama.

installation view at The Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, TX

2012
excised printed pages from The Universal Standard Encyclopedia, 1953-56, by Wilfred Funk, Inc., archival water-based glue, paper
524 collages, each varies from 8 x 11 inches to 17 x 23 inches, installation variable

A popular, vintage encyclopedia is processed to represent contradictory layers and logic of personal and public information. The images have been extracted from all twenty-five volumes of a 1953-56 Funk & Wagnall Encyclopedia and reconfigured as collages, unleashing the potentiality of images trapped by historical context. New political and psychological associations emerge in the black and white presentation that covers the walls.

VOLUME I No. 10 Playing Rockefeller Center

VOLUME I No. 17 Survival is a Delicate Act

VOLUME V No. 11 The Specter of Urban Decay Rises From the Rubble

VOLUME VI No. 15 Crusty Confucius

VOLUME IX No. 8 Please Do Not Touché

VOLUME X No. 5 Black Angel

VOLUME XI No. 11 No Appetite for Island Architecture

VOLUME XI No. 13 You’re Not From Around Here, Are You?

VOLUME XIII No. 9 Beauty and the Boat

VOLUME XIV No. 5 Undermining Frankfurt Kentucky

VOLUME XIV No. 12 Oil Spills

VOLUME XX No. 7 The Western Sahara

VOLUME XXII No. 9 Shadow Tail Shout Out, Furry Fury

VOLUME IX No. 11 The Revelers Would Have to Pay

VOLUME X No. 13 Sea of War-Monstruo de la Guerra

VOLUME VII No. 1 Gothic vs. Romanesque

2012
white oak, antique English bone ware (circa 1843), footed silver tray, steel, pigmented dye, shellac
9 x 14 x 14 feet

Homage to Louise Bourgeois, Houston artist and friend, Jesse Lott, and Victoria artist, Madeline O’Connor. Cabinet of Craving assembles cross cultural adaptations found in furniture, ancient motifs mix bred with nationalist symbols, all under the influence of addictions that shape historical destinies. This crouching spider like monumental sculpture pushes it’s abdomen vitrine to the ceiling and confronts with a grimace both comical and frightening. Just behind this decorative mongrel visage, of an English bulldog and ancient Chinese “gluttonous” taotie mask, is Victorian-style glass case revealing it’s curious diet, an antique 1843 teapot upon a silver serving tray. The sculpture is a hybrid monster born out of addictions and manipulations of empires, in this case, the Victorian English craving for tea and porcelain, the Chinese desire for silver and the insidious and illegal trade of narcotics that lead to the Opium War.

photos: Nash Baker, Exhibited in ‘Contemporary Asian Art: Texas Connections’ April 14-Sept. 16, 2012; Asia Society Texas Center

Operation Paydirt is a multidisciplinary, artist-driven project advancing a solution to the devastating problem of lead (Pb) contaminated soil that puts thousands of children at risk for severe learning disabilities and behavioral problems. The goals of the project are to raise awareness of the issues of lead and to create a model for making cities lead-safe across the United States. Ultimately Operation Paydirt’s purpose is to support generational human and environmental health.

Operation Paydirt brings together the science to transform toxic lead so that it is no longer harmful and the critical collaborations to implement the solution.

The project is currently in collaboration with US EPA Region IX in Oakland, CA on the first urban residential use of Paydirt’s Treat Lock Cover “TLC” protocol as an alternative to traditional methods of remediation. TLC offers an economic and simple application of highly refined fishbone-based calcium phosphate to neutralize lead found above tolerable thresholds. In parallel to EPA’s efforts, the key Paydirt scientific advisor is implementing a detailed demonstration of the TLC science in six severely lead contaminated properties in New Orleans, LA.

The Fundreds are designed to raise awareness of this environmental threat and offer the voices of democratic expression for the solution. All across the country people are drawing Fundred Dollar Bills – original, hand drawn interpretations of $100 bills. The Fundred Dollar Bill “artworks” are being collected by armored truck and will be delivered to Washington DC, where the value of the art currency will promote support to implement the solution in New Orleans and cities across the country.

See fundred.org

Primary Operatives: Mary Rubin, Amanda Wiles
Scientific Principals: Andrew Hunt, Ph.D. Howard Mielke, Ph.D.
Paydirt Pilot Site Implementation: US EPA Region IX Emergency Response for West Oakland, CA South Prescott Community, CURTAILS: New Orleans

2011
graphite on vellum
each drawing 10 x 7 1/2 inches, installation dimensions variable

2011
steel, polypropylene rope, basketball nets, basketballs, paint
dimensions variable

The Greek Revival façade of the Nave Museum in Victoria, TX is revived with a colossal grape vine entwining the iconic columns, loaded with Olympian-scaled leaves and regulation-sized fruit. Surrealism meets Classicism in this sporty public presentation.

study for Shape of a Lie

see Safehouse

2011
mixed media animation
2 min 47 sec
edition of 50

An internet posting from Marfa Lights viewing area in Marfa, Texas was adjusted, printed and taped to a homemade animation stand. A compact digital camera set to video mode captured white chalk “lights” being drawn, smudged, and erased.