When I executed this terracotta sculpture in 1997, I knew pretty much what I was aiming at right from the start (pun intended). A nice, old, traditional style telephone, with a nice, old, traditional style .45-caliber automatic pistol where the hand piece is supposed to be. I don't know if I was the first person to happen upon this combination of symbols or not. I would be sort of surprised if other's had not thought of it as well, given its obvious and humorous take on what the telephone has become, at the end of the millennium. It works perfectly. If you answer the phone by foolishly placing the receiver against your ear, it can blow your brains out, and if you cleverly tell someone else that it is for them, it can blow their brains out, instead.
When was it, exactly, that the telephone stopped being simply a convenient communication device, and became the weapon of choice for entire subclasses of humanity? Consider the phone company's position in the situation: First, they manufacture and sell these contraptions, so that people can communicate with each other, then they list our phone numbers in a directory, to make it easy for people to find us. Later, when a growing number of the people who find you are the kind you would rather not have calling, the phone company then charges you an additional fee, so that your number will not be listed in the telephone directory. But now, people that you have done business with, to whom you have given your phone number, sell their customers' phone numbers to people in the business of compiling phone lists, and these lists are sold over the Internet to anyone willing to pay for them.... the same people you are trying to avoid by paying a fee to have your number not listed in the telephone directory. So the phone company now sells you another service, caller ID, so that you can see the number and identity of the person who is calling you. And then, the telephone company turns around and sells them a service that will allow them to remain anonymous, so that your caller ID will only be able to tell you 'Private.'
'Rude' seemed to be the only name that would fit. The real question might be, is it correct to classify anyone who has refined rudeness into such an exquisite weapon rightfully called a 'subclass of humanity,' or would it be more appropriate to refer to them as a 'class of sub humanity'???
This piece is considerably less humorous than the previous piece, and although there is no gun apparent in the work, its presence is strongly implied. It was a day of freezing sleet when I found the used paper targets in a garbage can, rolled up and soaked. My dog was really in a hurry to get home, into the warm and dry, and gave me a look of frustration as I carefully tucked them into my jacket. It was spring before I got around to gluing the target onto a piece of plywood, and drilling the wood through under each of the bullet holes, and finally sketching the international symbol for a school zone onto the target in yellow acrylic paint, simply avoiding the area inside that serves as the children's silhouettes.
In this area of Chicago (Bucktown), an image such as this has real significance; at least three children have been shot to death within a one-mile radius of where I found the target, in random street violence, within the past 6 months. I see the same bit of brilliance at work here, as in the example above (Rude), except here, instead of the rudeness being psychological, it is terminal. A species that is incapable of conducting itself responsibly with regard to the telephone, seems no more capable of conducting itself responsibly where guns are concerned, or anywhere else, for that matter.
Call me a cynic, if you want, but I don't see us as behaving, overall, like the kind of species that deserves to inherit a place among the stars. The problem, as I see it, lies beyond the scope of any legislation, and is a matter of individuals' choices. The vast majority of us (humans) have the capacity to behave ourselves, and already know the difference between right and wrong behaviour, but are unable to stop lying long enough to look at the facts of our situation as they really are, as opposed to how we wish them to be.
Maybe we are still waiting for mommy and daddy to come and restore order...
Don't ask me, I just make this stuff. I am reasonably sure that these two works will become dated, due to their topical nature, addressing facets of our current social behaviours, and employing symbols that will not age well. Turning out this kind of work is a nice break for me from the more exacting styles that I usually employ. Although the subjects being addressed are serious matters, I don't really feel either of these pieces take themselves too very seriously. I was laughing while I constructed 'Rude' and got a pretty big kick out of seeing how most people did not immediately even see the handgun at first. Their minds just saw a phone. I had not anticipated that, and I learned something from the experience. 'Easy Target' was not as much fun to paint, because one of my nieces was killed in her early teens as a result of gun violence, and that memory was with me in the construction of that piece. I made a point of removing the name of the target maker from the piece, because I did not want this to be seen as an indictment against the industry alone. We are a species that entertains all sorts of self-destructive behaviours, at every level of our societies. I wish that it were not so... but it is.