SOCIAL SCULPTURE

To me, 'social sculpture' is a category of art like 'painting' or 'drawing'. It refers to art that focuses on groups of people as the medium. Mine tend to be unrehearsed, untheatrical and referring to the real unprompted conditions that occur doing a situation that I instigate. They tend to explore the relationships between the people. My situations seek the emergent properties of a group of people and/or the relationship between two contrasting sub-cultures. Sometimes, I create interactive installations to create the social sculpture. 

The Art on Hand Gallery
1999

I was asked to do a piece in a show at 4-walls Gallery. For this piece, I took on the persona of an institution; The Art on Hand Gallery. I advertised and juried in ten painters. I gessoed each of my fingernails and each painter chose a nail. Each painter did a painting on his or her chosen nail. The 'grand opening' of The Art on Hand Gallery happened inside the 4-walls space as a dramatically slow gesture of me slowly opening my hands.

The painters made posters, which advertised their opening. Their show was called "Ten Open Spaces."

At the 'grand opening' and throughout the week, a Polaroid photo could be purchased from the roaming gallery.

The Art on Hand Gallery roamed every major section of San Francisco.

The work was shown to anyone who would pay attention. I held my hands against my chest in the formalized position. I would then docent them through the show. For example, I'd say, "This piece on my right thumb nail is by Ed Siu. It is called, Cows in Space. He used acrylic and wax as a medium and he says it has to do with the current lack of artist space in San Francisco. And this piece here on my right index finger is by..."

​Buying Beers for Ten Transients
2001

I walked around Fisherman's Wharf telling any transient whom I saw that if they showed up at 'Kennedy's Bar' at 5PM, I'd like to buy them a beer. Kennedy's is a bar across the street from The San Francisco Art Institute and is frequented primarily by college art students.

Those transients who showed up at 5PM were bought a beer. The two sub-cultures mixed surprisingly well with much conversation.

​Translations of Intuition
2001

I advertised with brail flyers and sign language presentations to find a blind person and a deaf person to actualize this piece. Jennifer Ransom was the musician and Jose'e Andre did the drawings. The piece is a triptych.

Music Translated to Drawing.
Blind person drawing from deaf person's intuitive music.

Drawing Translated to Music.
Deaf person playing music from blind person's intuitive drawing.

Translation Cycle.
Blind person translating deaf person's music into drawing...as deaf person simultaneously translates the blind person's drawing into music.

​The Wedding
2001

I began collecting objects from alleys and fitting them together in whichever way they seemed to fit best. As the assemblage reached the fifteen-foot mark, I realized it was a hermaphrodite. It meant that there was a feminine aspect to every man and a masculine aspect to every woman. I found a coffee shop willing to show it. The opening night was the stage for my piece, The Wedding, which was a social situation.

I requested that everyone come to the opening dressed in 'drag.'

There was a dynamic between those who did and those who didn't.

Much of the conversation held an underlying tension.

​FREE SMOKES
2002

This piece happened at the Beyond Baroque Gallery in L.A. during a group exhibition. I wrote an increment of time on each cigarette. “one second”, “two minutes”, “three hours”, “four days”, “five weeks”, “six months”, “seven years” & on. As I wrote the word on the cigarette, I would add it to the mandela. A sign above me said, “FREE SMOKES take one”.  Over the course of the night, people would take them and I would add them in different places. So the design changed significantly.

​Somos la Musica
​(We are the Music)
2003

This piece was for the inaugural event of a political arts organization called Cultura a la Mano (the culture at hand).
It happened in Rosarito, Mexico.
I built a giant walk in painting.
It had many tiny windows that were magnifying glasses or colored lenses.

The inside was organically sculpted and continued the same color scheme and texture. I also wore painted clothes, boots and had my face painted in tune. Face paint was available for kids that wanted to use it.

But the big deal was the music. A plethora of blue and white musical instruments were available inside for the kids to use.

This included an electric guitar and a megaphone. An ongoing ‘music jam’ for hours

Stalactites hung from the ceiling, where a black light was also installed. 

The edges were padded and the heavy frame was ornate gold.

Theater of Dreams
2003

An underground Mexican organization called Insecto invited me to do an art piece at their rave near Ensenada in a campground called Salsipuedes. 

I built a bright red 3D frame/rack. On the back layer was a bulletin board like head. It was covered with all sorts of notes and lists and dreams. It was held in place by wire that radiated out in an iconic style. The front layer was a window. The window frame was coated with thick fleshy colored paint mixed with hair. A row of six paired magnets that attached together through the glass.

The structure was anchored by chrome chain.

The backside was copper.

Piles of blank note pads, pens and tapes were laid out all day & night. People were welcomed to write a note and add it into the head. An estimated 5000 people attended the event.

During the long night, I had installed a strong red light that kept my space lit. A wave of people would do notes. Then, I would put my old super 8 projector on the table and project short animated films onto the head. I showed four different experimental animations that I had created in the past years. Each was a minute long. Then, everybody would leave and a new wave would flow in.  ​

By dawn, some areas were six inches thick and when we got a breeze, the whole thing would flutter.

Dot-to-Dot
1999-2005

Dot-to-Dot was a monumental art piece that happened over several years. Like a life form, it was born, grew up, and eventually died, but its impact remains. It was a canvas for Brandie Maddalena & I to experiment with all our concepts learned from the San Francisco Art Institute. We were interested in creating an organization as an art piece. 

CLICK HERE to see in-depth documentation of Dot-to-Dot!