Explaining My Work: Humpty Dumpty Was A Rabbit Hole.

This is the second post in what i hope to be an ongoing series sharing a glimpse into how i see the work that i create. Please let me know what you think.

During a summer artists retreat at the beach, i brainstormed some new ideas and was looking to come up with a way to create a longer narrative that included video and lighting along with a variety of materials. A mixed and multimedia series. I happened to bring along Alice in Wonderland for some fun reading and decided that this was perfect source material for an entire exhibit.

I immediately envisioned two pieces, The Mad Tea Party scene, and A large cracked concrete egg of Humpty Dumpty. The piece had to fall in line with a very cohesive outline that i had constructed. It needed to be a certain size... I wanted the series to feel somewhat like pages in an old book... the same size, sepia tones

So, with Humpty Dumpty, the interesting prideful character in Through the Looking glass, I wanted to deal with externalities and internalities, I wanted to deal with ego, pride, the fall, a journey. I wanted to include the ceiling tile patternwork that i love so much, I wanted there to be a moment of surprise and discovery, a bit of a shock, and a reward for seeking. The form of the large cast concrete egg came to me right away. I looked for large eggs to make a wold of and found something on ebay that i had to cut up and set onto a background of tile work. I then had to make a large rubber mold into which i cast concrete.  Very process oriented work that require a lot of planning.
Once the concrete was cured, i stained it green and gold leafed the insides. I know i wanted it to seem precious. A hardened stoic exterior to a warm glowing interior. At first i thought i would have a cracked heart inside, maybe on a spring so that it seemed quivering. That piece may still come. The form of this is something i still want to play with. I really let it sit for a while as i decided what was the thing that would be the essence of humpty dumpty. Sometimes creativity is a momentary flash, sometimes it takes a long time to mull over, to decide if it's the right fit, supports my vision, is tasteful and interesting. But then it dawned on me that Humpty Dumpty as a metaphor of ego, pride and arrogance, also represented the Rabbit Hole that Alice fell into. A vortex of trying to find your true self through trials. A form or purgatory almost. I envisioned people being hurled into the rabbit hole on their own journey to whatever end they find there.  reconciliation, humility, nothingness, nirvana. I also felt that the reward is that we all can see ourselves in this state, in this piece. We all all susceptible to Humpty Dumpty. but i think we can all be put back together.