Complicit, 2012
wood, acrylic, pigment, graphite, 96″ x 48″ x 48″
(Based on Giambologna‘s 1582 sculpture “Rape of the Sabine” in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence.)
Without trying to over-think or overstate my intent –as is my want– while developing Complicit I was thinking about Western methods of icon representation, namely billboards and the utilitarian, schematic and architectural systems we use to present imagery. Comparing this to the often propagandistic, large scale sculpture of the late Renaissance I was taken with the flat frontal quality of modern imagery. In an effort to confound this a bit I pulled three separate views of the original “Rape of Sabine” sculpture from the internet, isolating each figure from a different image and angle. This facet of the sculpture engages with the ways of seeing influenced by online imagery and academia, i.e. flat popular imagery used to partially describe three dimensional objects.
As usual, the pattern comprising the center character has been pulled and expanded from the decorative engravings found on a rifle breech. In both this piece and Coercion (see previous post) I have turned the violent character into the pattern man: my not so subtle way of implying violence is linked with culture.
One other facet of consideration that has piqued my interest is that I found several images of restorations taking place on the original sculpture and several modifications in order to make sure it stays intact. In maintaining this sculpture it is constantly under a state of change and maintenance requiring the intervention of architectural scaffolding that often contains and defines the work itself.
Don’t worry… more works to come will deal with this intriguing issue.
Ryder in Roswell 
Love!!! I really Find it fascinating that you have built a “gallery space” with in your studio to show your work. The space is as important as the the work. It holds, isolates, and allows the image to come into its own. The works owns the space. It takes possession of the walls, the floor, and the light. The shadows become a pseudo memory of the act. They create a history in and of themselves, like distant screams fading but forever etched in ones memory. dac
Yes! Thanks David. I agree completely, but I couldn’t have said it as well. I really love the limitations and contradictions of the space and how it enhances everything I create.