medium: paper collage, metal (framed + matted in flat black
wood frames with single diamond glare-free glass)
dimensions: overall dimensions variable; 8" x 10"
each individual panel
REVIEWS: 01
image: installation view at Common Ground, Windsor (2002)
Teenage DNA is a 53-image project comprised of small,
single-panel collage meta-comics (one work on each Monday generated for
the entire year of 2001) exploring life and death, emotionally exaggerated
states, comic violence and issues of human intimacy.
Surreal, obscure narrative scenes exploring relationships
between figures and/or figurative stand-ins as they relate to objects,
weapons, their surroundings and other off-scene characters (of which the
viewer him/herself may be included). Semi-poetic / semi-trash statements
are forced from each central character's mouth using the conventional comic
motif of the word bubble; it should be noted that for
this project, all the word bubbles used in the narratives have
been directly pulled from linear narratives
presented in mainstream comics, deconstructed and reinserted into this more abstract
and enduring art-comic world.
The actual collage works are constructed onto the interiors of
discarded 4x5 Polaroid film packets, the window of which effectively acts as a comic panel;
these panels are in turn mounted onto a black
matt and presented as framed works in an 8" x 10" format. The entire Teenage DNA project is presented within the gallery as a
singular work, each piece mounted in a grid pattern of 4 or 5 works high
(depending on number of Mondays in corresponding month) by 12 works (months)
long, with a spacial demarcation every 3 months (according to seasons) —
a kind of visual calendar documenting the timeline by which the singular
panels have been created.
