Performance became your transition into sculpture and installation. You use all kinds of materials and methods, like foam, resin, plastics, and 3D printing. It’s all a bit industrial, but you make it tangible.
When I first approached art, I was coming at it from a financial standpoint, and I thought about ways I could make things that were accessible to me. Thinking about the materials, going to Home Depot to find all the materials I needed, but also thinking about if I went anywhere, I could find lumber, I could find plywood. This was the beginning of the found objects with foam.
I felt like the materials started evolving, and I was exploring the things I could afford. The more I can afford now, I feel like the more I’m able to explore. Now I’m like, I can work with steel, I can work with Plexi, I can work with technology. I love that about the practice, how it has evolved.
What was your experience participating in At the Edge of the Sun at Deitch Projects?
When I was first brought on to At the Edge of the Sun, I was at Jeffrey Deitch’s house shooting Mario Ayala’s video that played inside his Trucker’s Chapel installation. I was happy to collaborate with my friend and help Mario create his vision. We shot at this auto mechanic’s in Chinatown. He’s like, “Sit there and act like you’re waiting for your car.” I came with this big ass dress [laughs] and was just sitting. The next scene we’re going to shoot at Jeffrey’s house and Mario’s asked me to pretend like I was laying down. So I lay down, get up, look out the window, and it’s crazy because the wind hit me perfectly. It was the first shot, and I remember Mario getting excited, lowkey emotional. We did a couple shots and then for the last scene, he wants me by the pool. I thought, “Why not get in the pool?” So I’m walking and then, boom, I get in the pool, and I did this beautiful scene.
Afterwards, I was about to leave, but he wanted me to stay because they were going to talk about the show. I thought it was a show that Mario was curating in New York that was conjoined with this, but no, it wasn’t. It was about a show coming up, and Jeffrey actually asked if I was going to be in it. Come to find out, it’s like the beginning of the whole conversation.
As we progressed, we talked about who would curate it. They were all thinking it should be a collective thing, that the artists should curate it. We were already making things together. We were all close, but this bonded us artistically.
When I was thinking about the show, I was thinking about my connection with artists there. A lot of them I’ve met through queer nightlife. During that time of my performances, I was dressing up as this little devil, being mischievous. I thought about bringing this character back and playing with it. I took a piece from Digital Engrams and changed it to fit the concept of that show. I thought about that spiral, and thought that this was perfect. I’m thinking about time, connections and memory again. Before it was At the Edge of the Sun, we were thinking about the title, Landmarks. Ozzie Juarez brought it up and we were thinking about a subtitle, so we thought up At the Edge of the Sun, later deciding that was a better title.
I was thinking about landmarks, I was thinking about the whole entity of Los Angeles being this beam. It’s this breathing entity that’s alive. I thought about the part of the city I’m connected to, the San Fernando Valley. I was doing a lot of research, and I came across images from the Northridge earthquake. I wanted to incorporate it in some way and there was this one specific image that was the connection. It was broken asphalt, and at the edge it was like a kind of red angel that someone had placed. It was beautiful. I was like, oh my God, it’s so perfect, the devil. And then the angel, it’s red. This little character can live in all these three pieces. I recreated it and made myself like the little devil. Even the colors I used in space go back to like the wacky Pomo-ist thing, that’s what the work was about.
