Where am I? the ground slips beneath me, the sand pulls deeper into the void. I have become as suffocated in the process as I have ever been. Today I drilled holes through a piece of stone. It has made solid a piece of unworkable crap. perhaps the strain of outside eyes are actually peering in and affecting my mental psyche. perhaps they are my own? I am deeply missing the drive that pulled me toward an answer. now I sit, running at idle speeds, waiting for the weight of the crash to collide.

the weight

SPRING SEMESTER

I have started to make models, scaleless forms that are closely influenced by my paintings. My intention is to use the paintings as a loose form of blueprint, and interpret them into Three Dimensional forms. Theses forms are going to then direct my motives and decisions towards hard line drawings, and further models.

Some of the maps and pictures that I have been researching are beginning to inform my design process for the paintings; and the work ahead. An old map of Babylon, overlay ed with a burnt body. A map of Iraq, giving locations of enemy targets and other important information. An image i pulled from Google Earth of the ancient city of Babylon and Saddam Hussein's palace he build next to it. There exists now a parking lot south of Babylon, this is most likely going to be my site. This is where I feel the least amount of damage will occur to any artifacts that rest below the soil.

This is some imagery that has been pushing my work along, along with a few informative maps.

Updated Paintings, One on the way.

Here are a few updated works, They are inspired by the excavations of a site.
The digging through history revealing structure, past lives, battles, bloodshed and peace. This is my personal expression.

I believe that though the means of painting, my design is not turning away from the history of traumatic events, but more towards them. Not hiding or concealing from them, but rather an admittance of them. a deep reflection of historic spacial trauma.

My design intent is to use personal experience as a conductor of information and facts, bound together through war, history of past wars, oppression from dictatorships and the release from dictatorships on an already tormented landscape to proceed further with my degree project.

HOW DO YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS?

A few images of the updated paintings, along with some satellite photos taken during Desert Storm in 1990
and myself in 2003.

Babylon, Iraq 03'

Ishtar gate, the Greek amphitheater, and the halls of where the hanging gardens of Babylon were.

Iraq 03' U.S. Tanks and Sunrise over Karbala

Horizon Lines, broken by different forces.

new paintings, not yet complete

Horizon lines and submerging. These two new paintings are in incomplete . I am trying to recapture a few of my memories of being in Iraq, all the while, form finding and thinking through issues surrounding Babylon and the existing site. The Euphrates river that runs directly to the west of the ancient city has become a huge interest in my search or a meaningful site and I envision my design to fully engage with the river. from the riverbed upward, the new grounds of security (physically and spiritually) are passed through, and re-considered.

Iraq Images - Satellite

Iraq Images - Satellite

Unesco intends to put the magic back in Babylon - The New York Times

Unesco intends to put the magic back in Babylon - The New York Times