“Nero’s Refrain”

The rubber stamp series resonates with me differently than my other work. Every time I see a picture or artifact from the installation I get agitated. I think it is because those insipid quotes have really gotten under my skin.

Nero’s Refrain was the first rubber stamp I made. That quote comes from the Reagan administration and was used to explain why the nation couldn’t implement strategies to mitigate acid rain. Of course, this is the catch phrase for the anti-environmental movement. Leveraging the metaphorical statement “Nero fiddled while Rome burned,” this sad song is repeated every time we want to avoid dealing with climate change or species displacement or the evils of factory farming or…. It is an argument that endlessly spirals in on itself until all reason is lost. One of the biggest challenges in creating this piece was getting that spiral right. I won’t go into the details here, I am just glad it worked. I did like the way the lighting in the show made the center of the spiral fade in on itself. Unlike the other rubber stamp patterns, I did not manipulate the font to get a clear shape. I loosely based the shape and the color off a stop sign, though I like that in repetition it conjures other imagery.

“Endless Column” (detail)

The Endless Column quote is drawn from a company-wide memo on why lay-offs were occurring in our office. It is used every time a company has massive layoffs. It’s not personal and it’s not the manager’s fault, we are, after all, just puppets in the marketplace. So it must be just a coincidence these layoffs occurred just after a disastrous reading textbook adoption where high-ranking (and still employed) managers made some really bad strategic decisions? I guess it does sound better than saying “Your fired because I stupidly invested in flawed technology or junk bonds or lavish bonuses for a few.”

The repeating modules of the rubber stamp pattern draw on Brancusi’s Endless Column. What he described as “a column for infinity.” In its most celebrated form Brancusi’s sculpture symbolizes the “Infinite Sacrifice” of the Romanian soldiers in World War I. For me, this imagery evokes  the seemingly endless lines at soup kitchens, unemployment offices, or any place the sacrificed are relegated for survival. The black ink on a white wall seemed fittingly stark, impersonal, and corporate.

“Do Over” (detail)

The Do Over quote is a common quote every time we invade a country to “protect our national interests.” I picked up this quote from a news story on the invasion of Grenada but I remember it equally distinctly when we were rooting out weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The shape of the pattern was loosely based on the triangular shape of the Stealth Bomber. In this light, the camouflage-green pattern on the wall looks like formations of aircraft on a collision course. I also liked the way the negative space in the pattern conjured the three triangle pattern used to mark radioactive waste. The Do Over title draws on a common phrase when young boys are at play, and is an equally apt sentiment when playing video war games such as Call of Duty. Except, in both of those instances people aren’t really dying.