[Acrylic on Plywood] For Laura: Man in me vs. Leno's reflection.

This was when I was attempting to make multiple pictures depending upon the point of reference. The name of this work is "For Laura: Man in me vs. Leno's reflection," acrylic on plywood. "For Laura" since I gave it to my sister Laura. "Man in me" is below, while "Leno's reflection" is rotated 90 degrees. It is approximately 5 feet by 5 feet.

"Man in me":

Here we have the "Man in me" which is a reference to Bob Dylan song of the same name. It was in a movie I really like ("The Big Lebowski") and represents who I think the man is in me: Harrison Bergeron (from a short story by Kurt Vonnegut). In the story, all people are forced to be equal to the same standard. Those of extraordinary talent are forced to wear impediments and prostheses that curb their abilities. If you are beautiful, you have to wear a mask to hide it. Harrison Bergeron has thick glasses to impede his eye sight, headphones to prevent his ability to think and heavy weights to slow him down. In the work, people think that it is a curse to wear these items, but in the end they just make you stronger. If your forced to wear weights in order to slow you down, you grow used to the burden, become stronger, and suddenly the weight is less to bear. 

"Leno's Reflection":

This is the work rotated 90 degrees to show "Leno's Reflection." It's a reference to a Röyksopp song called "Poor Leno," where a small bear like creature (presumably named Leno) is trapped in a small pen of a zoo. It shows the extra ordinary actions that Leno took to evade capture by the zoo, skying through the great outdoors to suddenly be trapped in a small pen. Meanwhile Leno's mate witnesses the capture of Leno, and the music video ends with them being reunited, but with a piece of glass between them. The large red peices are the faces, while the smaller ones are the hands.

This portion of the work is about a girl (of course) who I was friends with for a long time. In many respects we were like the same person, she was like my twin soul but despite that we never made it work. When ever I was into her, she was pissed off at me. When ever she was into me, I was pissed off at her, and so we eventually pushed each other away.

This piece was the last major work I believe I did before my break down around 2005. It took 9 (?) months to complete on weekends while I was working a full time job. It's a style that I want to continue once I get my studio set up.

Here is a side image showing the side of the work a little better: