Destruction Ritual
Contemporary culture primarily presents itself to us through the screen. We look to screens for entertainment, information, communication and commerce. Through advertising, screens tell us what we should want, what we should be don't, and who we should be. The television screen holds a place of reverence at the center of the household, as a kind of altar, portal, and vessel. It only makes sense that upon their ceasing as useful objects they are shot, shattered, and left in the desert as an act of ritual destruction.
Across time and culture, the breaking of ceremonial vessels has been practiced. Through the act of shooting, these vessels of culture are destroyed as the shooter takes vengeance upon its master, turns violent image upon itself, and likewise celebrates the power of the television. Other vessels of cultural importance give us an altered perspective, though either medicine or machine. It is my intention to use the destroyed objects through which we view our world, whether TV, bottle, or windshield, as a monument to the power of these objects and as to illustrate the peculiar destructive rituals of contemporary culture.
This body of work consists of several materials and processes, ranging from the use of readymades and collage techniques, to works of casting and printmaking. The bullet ridden source material of LCD screens, windshields, signs, boxes and bottles was scavenged from the desert outskirts of Santa Fe alongside arroyos, fences, and embankments. Readymades exist as a television body, signs, and car windshield. LCD screen fragments are utilized as form of collage, adhered together to form a veil. LCD screen is used as a tool for printmaking as well, through inking of the fragments and utilizing a press. Windshield and bottle fragments have been molded and cast in metals and resin, highlighting the fractured beauty of the once important cultural objects.
