martyr me a little
extinct heart pine 1, white high-density polyethylene2, yellow HDPE3, black HDPE4, drywall screws5, fluorescent green acrylic6, fluorescent pink acrylic7, epoxy resin8, black resin dye9, aluminum10, brass screws11, paint mixing stick12, sticky wax13, graphite and colored pencil14 on newsprint15.
24in. x 18in. x 40in.
2008
1. Initially from the lumber salvage place on Hull Street that mills down old 19th century house timbers and then given to me by my studio landlord because it was left over from his kitchen cabinet refinishing that he had been saving because he owns a massive warehouse and he’s an inveterate packrat.
2. Retrieved after hours from the Trident Plastics dumpster after the good-old-boy owner told me I could hit it up because he “thought I was alright” but not to tell anyone else.
3. Donated by Matt on a trip to Richmond because he felt bad that I had to drive all the way from Provincetown to Richmond for a traffic court date and I had actually given it to him in the first place.
4. Traded with Matt for a good portion of white HDPE and some clear Plexiglas from Trident, which I felt was a deal that benefited me far more than him but I did not say anything, and am not sure if he felt the same way.
5. Admittedly bought from Home Depot.
6. Found by Ross on the side of the road and bartered for 10 steel ball bearings that I had left over from free-lance stop-motion animation armature making in undergraduate.
7. Bought at a discount from the nice lady at D&G Plastics that she had initially ordered for Arthur but he hadn’t purchased all of which she seemed slightly put off about.
8. Given to me as a gift for helping a stressed and departing Arthur quickly move his studio and house into a cramped POD after he realized he was being optimistic with how many of his belongings he could actually keep.
9. Bought from Woodcraft for too much money and felt guilty over.
10. Swiped from a MIG welding demo in the VCU foundry and the print shop at the Fine Arts Work Center.
11. Salvaged from the VDOT warehouse liquidation.
12. Made from the perfectly usable scrap that the VCU AFO students left behind, for which I feel both resentful of and responsible for, as I’d like to think I taught them better than that.
13. Stolen from Provincetown Art Association and Museum after install, which I did not feel particularly bad about as it was such a small thing I was sure they wouldn’t miss it.
14. Borrowed both from Macon in a set given to her by her mother for Christmas, who rightfully made me feel guilty for using up most of the pencils before she even had a chance to use them.
15. Bought at the RISD store because they were the only ones who had large enough sheets, but unfortunately suffered from twice the guilt from both the purchase of the pad itself and the gas used to get there.