the sun never sets
High-density polyethylene and PVC sheet1, black acrylic2, pine3, colored acrylic4, drywall screws5, sheet metal screws6, burnt wood7, brass screws8, epoxy resin9, walnut10, corrugated plastic11, climbing rope12, lead13, enamel14, denim15, steel rings16, hot-pink masonry line17, buffalo horn and acrylic pen blanks18
76in. x 48in. x 60in.
2008
1. 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.
2. Cannibalized from an older piece that I reluctantly threw away but saved parts of in an effort to salvage some value from its expense.
3. 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.
4. Scraps 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.
5. Admittedly bought from Lowe’s.
6. Bought from Pleasants, which I feel less guilty about because it’s more of an old-school southern hardware store.
7. From a house next door that was the site of a murder/arson in the 90’s that was graciously loaded into my truck in the middle of the night by the renovators who would suspiciously only work from midnight to 5am.
8. Salvaged from the VDOT warehouse liquidation.
9. 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.
10. Left in the studio from the previous tenant, a furniture designer who’s name I think was Jesse and who’s extensive use of walnut ended up covering every single square foot of that place with at least a quarter inch of toxic dust.
11. Saved after demolishing Kerry’s jerry-rigged office that was also left in the studio, a large structure that I was proud of being able to totally disassemble myself in the span of only a few hours.
12. From Ms. Walters high school “Rocks and Ropes” course.
13. From fishing sinkers found in a coffee can in the Model Tobacco warehouse that we were recruited to help clean it out.
14. Purchased on three separate occasions while the Art Market was going out of business and eventually bought the last and conceivably most expensive batch when it was down to 70% off and felt like a vulture picking over an art supply carcass, but knew I would never be able to afford one-shot any other way and regardless I had a good rapport with the owner who generally seemed to hate most people under fifty.
15. Pieces from the dozen or so pairs of jeans my mother buys for me every year because she questions my sartorial decisions and yet I can’t bear to throw them away or even to give them to Goodwill because of the good intentions behind them.
16. Salvaged from a set of antique 19th century leg-irons (which is an unsettling thing to come across in the south) that I found at a flea market in the boonies and initially intended for use in an ultimately failed video piece involving a pick axe and grave digging, but the current use of which in this later piece brought me a good degree of pleasure even though I still haven’t found a use for the actual chain that the rings were attached to.
17. Snagged by Macon for me from her miserable job because she thought the color looked like something I could use.
18. Inherited from my grandfather’s retirement pen-lathing hobby.