WORKS IN PROGRESS

2010 – Conversations About the Kingdom of Fire – Sound Mixed Media

Inspired from the work of William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops, Conversations is a combined sound work and mixed media piece focused on the repurposing of found cassette media. Rooted in the essence of hip hop culture, fair use, copyright reform, and conservation, I have sought to gather used media that resonates much in the ways of sample pieces of work are reappropriated. Each tape is limited and varies in meaning and emotional weight. Each selection or mix of original sound work recorded over the original artwork is unique and tailored to fit the original cassette release. In the example of the prototype Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” the program is designed to bleed over and into more effective material like “I’m on fire.” In another case such as Anita Baker’s Rapture, the key track starts at the beginning of the program and will be recorded over just as its meme starts to become absorbed by the listener’s This disintegration and manipulation is to reflect the myth of permanence, the importance of freedom of expression and ideas, and the inevitability of change. The works titled is a verbatim lifting from a lyric by Roz Williams controversial Christian Death song entitled “Romeo’s Distress.” Often woefully misinterpreted, it uses the a racial slur in the lyric as a poetic criticism of the KKK. By evoking this meme of destruction, hellfire, sin, disease, and decay, it acts as a sigil or sample to be combined in a particular alchemy of material and memory. The varying interpretations of fire throughout religious cultures mark its force as either rebirth or destruction. The conversation of this fire regards the loop, whether its origin is tape, sample, or poetic device as a cyclical and eternal essence. Thus, the conversation of hell and the visitation to its core reflects a journey towards redefinition, repurposing, and a rewinding of values.

Ongoing video blog

2010 – Fake Names – Installation Mixed Media Photo

Fake names is an exploration of semiotics through street art inspired by my years involved with graffiti art culture. It stands as both a criticism of the state of current street art content and an exploration of the use of language. Using the phonetic based Korean language and Hangul characters, I have created multiple stencils with the aid of a laser cutter. Each of these pieces display the phonetic spelling of an assumed street name of a particular street artists work. These stencils are incorporated into the street artists work somewhat in the vein of the concept of toys, untalented artists who either created substandard work. It is a direct reference to Beat Street and the character of Spit who sprayed his tag over other pieces to assume ownership over other people’s work. By translating phonetically the artist’s fake name, it is intended to create a feedback loop; neither understood or interpreted by the artist or the Korean culture in which aids in the translation.