The Trash Oracle Sings

Residency: October 2023 - January 2024

Recology: Craig Calderwood
Press Release for Show

During my time at Recology I collected very Little material aside from recycled paint and the massive bag of fabric scraps I found early on. I mostly stood in the dumping site and tried to absorb the experience of being in the space and related it to early experiences I had dumpster diving with my Dad and younger brother. I documented objects, feeling, smells, and sounds and began sketching from there. Letting the Piles tell me what to make almost.

Like many of my paintings and drawings I started with writing and tiny little sketches that I then transferred to my larger canvases. Early in the diving I found a huge bag of scraps from either a mattress or mattress cover company, cut up and sealed in a plastic bag. I took all these strips and machine sewed them together and wove and draped them to create the surfaces I painted on. I created swatches of the house painted I collected from Hazerdous Waste and then began creating the pieces. (as I fun takeaway for the opening I also created a small edition of linocuts)

Sillage
2024
54” x 91”
Cotton twill, housepaint, thread

Observation eternal
2024
41” x 46”
Cotton twill,  housepaint, thread

Debris
2024
93.5” x 60.5”
Mattress materials, housepaint, thread.

They of Flowers and Fire Brats
2024
60” x 60”
Cotton twill, house paint, thread

Her of Fans and Flies
2024
49.5” x 46”
Polyester,  House Paint,  Thread

Pile elemental
2024
45” x 67”
Cotton twill, polyester,  Housepaint, Thread

Telluric Cherub
2024
37” x 36”
Polyester,  cotton twill,  house paint,  thread

I didn’t really anticipate making any kind of sound or music thing while in residence but It just sort of came up as I worked on things and recording sound at the dumping site. I would play on the out of tune and broken piano outside most days listening to the cal train and birds whiz by. I started wrapping malettes out of the things I found in the dump and just played around a lot in between painting tasks thus this little ep was formed.

album art features a sculpture I made while there

PPE for Oracles
2024
30h” 15w” 7d”
Cotton twill, thread, glass and plastic beads, house paint, wire, fireplace tool display.