Your Custom Text Here
Eyes of Our Eyes
Wood, digitally produced elements, paper, acrylic, lights, lens
40.75” W x 56” H x 27” D
2023
Folie a Deux - Front Elevation (L); Dioramas (R) Materials: Wood, wood lath, steel, dioramas (within), convex glass lenses
Dimensions: 6’-2”W x 5’-10”H x 6’-2”D
2021
This sculptural installation is viewed from both inside and outside the gallery space. The left image is shown looking in from outside the space (from the street) and slightly above average viewing height to convey the full sculptural form.
Folie a Deux - Back Face w/ Viewers (L); Diorama L/R Views (R)
Materials: Wood, wood lath, steel, dioramas (within), convex glass lenses
Dimensions: 6’-2”W x 5’-10”H x 6’-2”D
2021
This image depicts the viewports located on the inside / back face of the piece. The left image is shown slightly above average viewing height to convey the full sculptural form.
'Neil Before Zod' is an interactive installation composed of four distinct sculptural experiences: ‘LEM/LAM’, ‘OSS One Small Steppe, ‘Clementine,’ and ‘Anteroom’.
Each structure invites the individual viewer to access the 'information' contained within through differing modes of body posture (kneeling, leaning, riding upon a cart, etc.).
This work is an outgrowth of my research into the topic of high strangeness, fringe subjects, and conspiracies – in this case specifically relating to the Apollo lunar missions. During the course of this research I experienced a disorienting sense of intellectual uncertainty which began to creep into my daily thinking about official histories and the lingering sub-narratives that often co-exist with these- growing in their own dark corners of our fertile cultural landscape. As a recovering child of Catholicism, I was somehow familiar with this compartmentalization of seemingly incompatible ontologies and the resulting psychological displacements it produced within me. I was a compelled to follow this artistic rabbit-hole and to attempt to translate this concept of malleable truths into a spatial, sculptural, architectonic installation work.
The title is a play on the quote “Kneel Before Zod!”- a command uttered by iconic British actor Terrence Stamp in the ridiculous 1980s comic film ‘Superman 2.’
The first structure called 'LEM/LAM' is shaped like a long rectangular, scope-like tube supported by a balustrade and capped at each end by two kneeler/ viewports. Each viewport opens onto a scale model diorama enclosed within the tube structure. The dioramas appear to present an alternate history of the moon landings-one shrouded in religious overtones, occult symbolism, dark discoveries, and a faint trace of science.
This absurd motif is played out through the humorous, awkward, ritualistic physical interplay between participant and subject- yielding a blend of psychological and physical disorientation.
The first diorama at the LAM end of the structure consists of a gothic chapel lined with framed icons culled from the realms of space science and the occult which coexist in a liminal space of conflicting and antagonistic proximity. Behind the altar lies a wall of seeping flesh-like substance. Icons hang above the altar and depict: Neil Armstrong (R), Neil Degrasse Tyson (L), and an entity summoned and drawn by Aleister Crowley called 'Lam' at (C). The viewport is laced with frankincense oil for an additional layer of experience.
The opposite side of the tube at the LEM end of the structure shows an antique wood prospector’s cabin on the lunar surface. In the foreground lies a baroque portrait of a grinning Carl Sagan entombed in the lunar regolith. A flag of a flesh-like substance marks the site and identifies the nature of the expedition.
LEM is a NASA acronym for lunar excursion module.
The second structure called ‘OSS (One Small Steppe)’ is a vertically oriented and angled, padded niche containing a scale model diorama and audio track. This coffin-shaped structure requires the viewer to enter the niche and lean at a very slight angle to view the diorama within. This slight floor angle is a design nod to Neil Armstrong’s descent from the lunar lander. The vignette depicts an observation deck set within a lunar mining shaft which has encountered a flesh-like and ‘foreign’ substance growing within the tunnel. The substance is the same as in the church altar, and outpost flag. The audio track that loops within the installation is generally referred to as ‘The Halt Tape’. This open-source material was originally recorded by USAF Lt. Col. Charles I. Halt on Dec. 28th 1980 while investigating a real-time incident unfolding in the Rendelsham Forest in Suffolk, England in close proximity to the Joint USAF/RAF Bases of RAF Bentwaters & RAF Woodbridge. The tape recounts a frantic and desperate attempt by multiple USAF personnel sent within the forest to investigate and document a series of bewildering events being experienced at the joint bases.
The third structure in the installation is called 'Clementine’. Here the viewer is seated on a padded cart (whose shape mimics the rigid seating in the Apollo spacecraft) and self-propelled into a padded 'cockpit' niche into which a diorama vignette is positioned above their head.
A looped audio recording of the Barney Hill hypnotic regression conducted by Boston psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Simon in 1964 plays within the piece. The track recounts Barney Hill's encroaching sense of cognitive dissonance and sheer terror resulting from his encounter with a phenomenon that shatters his sense of objective reality.
The fourth structure called ‘Anteroom’ can either be seen as the beginning or the end of the four- structure loop of NBZ. Within this angled periscope form the viewer glimpses a bedroom scene in which the flesh-like ‘substance’ oozes from within a framed wall hanging situated above the bed- leaking out onto the floor space along with the lunar regolith. Items strewn about the space reveal much of the inhabitants’ proclivities.
All of the scale model elements were constructed by the artist.
‘Neil Before Zod: LEM/LAM’
Wood, elevator padding, Clip lights, craft paper, incense
6.5'H x 5.25'W x 12'L
2018
Photo courtesy of Rick McLay
‘Neil Before Zod: LEM/LAM’ Viewer Orientation Detail
Wood, elevator padding, Clip lights, craft paper, incense
6.5'H x 5.25'W x 12'L
2018
Photo courtesy of Rick McLay
‘Neil Before Zod: LAM Viewport’
Wood, elevator padding, Clip lights, craft paper, incense
6.5'H x 5.25'W x 12'L
2018
'Neil Before Zod- LAM Chapel'
Wood, cast plastic, foam, mortar, fiberglas, chipboard, oak, acrylic, latex, polyurethane, paper
Vignette: 5'L x 12.25"H x 12"W
2018
'Neil Before Zod- LAM Chapel'
Wood, cast plastic, foam, mortar, fiberglas, chipboard, oak, acrylic, latex, polyurethane, paper
Vignette: 5'L x 12.25"H x 12"W
2018
Photo courtesy of Rick McLay
'Neil Before Zod- LAM Chapel - Detail Barney/Betty/Delsey Hill’
Wood, cast plastic, foam, mortar, fiberglas, chipboard, oak, acrylic, latex, polyurethane, paper
Vignette: 5'L x 12.25"H x 12"W
2018
'Neil Before Zod- LAM Chapel Altar Icons Detail’
Wood, cast plastic, foam, mortar, fiberglas, chipboard, oak, acrylic, latex, polyurethane, paper
Vignette: 5'L x 12.25"H x 12"W
2018
'Neil Before Zod- LAM Chapel - Man Who Fell Detail’
Wood, cast plastic, foam, mortar, fiberglas, chipboard, oak, acrylic, latex, polyurethane, paper
Vignette: 5'L x 12.25"H x 12"W
2018
'Neil Before Zod- LEM Viewport’
Wood, cast plastic, foam, mortar, fiberglas, chipboard, oak, acrylic, latex, polyurethane, paper
6.5'H x 5.25'W x 12'L
2018
'Neil Before Zod- LEM Lunar Outpost w/ Grinning Carl in Regolith’
Wood, cast plastic, foam, mortar, fiberglas, chipboard, oak, acrylic, latex, polyurethane, paper
Vignette: 5'L x 12.25"H x 12"W
2018
'Neil Before Zod- OSS (One Smal Steppe) Exterior'
Wood, elevator padding, interior vignette, audio track
3.5’W x 7’H x 5.5’D
2018
Photo courtesy of Rick McLay
'Neil Before Zod- OSS (One Smal Steppe) Viewer Orientation Detail'
Wood, elevator padding, interior vignette, audio track
3.5’W x 7’H x 5.5’D
2018
Photo courtesy of Rick McLay
'Neil Before Zod- OSS (One Smal Steppe) Vignette Detail'
Vignette: Wd, foam, mortar, laser-cut mdf, enamel, fiberglas audio track
3.5’W x 7’H x 5.5’D
2018/ 2020
Neil Before Zod -Clementine Exterior'
Wood, elevator padding, steel, moveable cart
3.5'W x 6.5'H x 7'L
2018/ 2020
Neil Before Zod -Clementine - Viewer Orientation Detail'
Wood, elevator padding, steel, moveable cart
3.5'W x 6.5'H x 7'L
2018/ 2020
Neil Before Zod -Clementine Cockpit Window Detail'
Wood, elevator padding, steel, moveable cart
3.5'W x 6.5'H x 7'L
2018
Neil Before Zod -Clementine Cockpit Window detail w/ hand'
Wood, elevator padding, steel, moveable cart
3.5'W x 6.5'H x 7'L
2018/ 2020
'Neil Before Zod - Clementine Lab Vignette Detail'
Cast plastic, laser-cut chipbd, fiberglas, pt, led lights, paper
Vignette: 12.25"H x 12.25"W x 4'L
2018/ 2020
'Neil Before Zod - Clementine Lab Vignette Left Detail'
Cast plastic, laser-cut chipbd, fiberglas, pt, led lights, paper
Vignette: 12.25"H x 12.25"W x 4'L
2018/ 2020
'Neil Before Zod - Clementine Lab Vignette Right Detail'
Cast plastic, laser-cut chipbd, fiberglas, pt, led lights, paper
Vignette: 12.25"H x 12.25"W x 4'L
2018/ 2020
Neil Before Zod: Anteroom (For Karl Wolfe) Periscope Detail
Wood, elevator padding, glass lens, led lights, architectural model (within)
56”H x 28”D x 18”W
2019
Neil Before Zod: Anteroom (For Karl Wolfe) Bedroom Detail
Wood, laser cut chipboard, plaster, latex, paper, mortar, cast foam
11”H x 16”D x 11”W
2019
Neil Before Zod: Anteroom (For Karl Wolfe) Detail
Wood, laser cut chipboard, plaster, latex, paper, mortar, cast foam
11”H x 16”D x 11”W
2019
Neil Before Zod: Anteroom (For Karl Wolfe) Detail
Wood, laser cut chipboard, plaster, latex, paper, mortar, cast foam
11”H x 16”D x 11”W
2019
Neil Before Zod: Anteroom (For Karl Wolfe) Detail
Wood, laser cut chipboard, plaster, latex, paper, mortar, cast foam
11”H x 16”D x 11”W
2019
‘Tunguska Minor’
Mixed Media-Wood, lath, kiln-burned pine tar, moving blankets, audio track, ink.
Approximately: 12’L x 7’-6”H x 3’-6” W
2016
This piece is a direct outgrowth of several earlier works: ‘Tom Ridge’, ‘Aloft’, and ‘Beneath Suspicion’. In each of those works the viewer is required to adopt an atypical posture/ physical orientation in order to traverse the architectural limits of the work. ‘TM’ is an abridged version of a larger work currently in design development.
In this work, the viewer is invited to ascend (one at a time) a small staircase set within a kiosk-like structure-which leads to a narrow, partially enclosed viewing niche. Once atop the stair the viewer is then directed to descend sharply at an acute angle in order to glimpse a vignette placed within the body of the structure. The vignette, inclined viewing posture, and exterior materials all contribute to the layered conceptual impact of the work.
The name ‘Tunguska’ comes from a remote region of Siberia in which a mysterious astronomical event occurred in 1908. This event included a massive atmospheric explosion - which yielded an apocalyptic wasteland of over 2000 sq km of leveled forest. The first explorers to the site (10 yrs after the event) were confounded by both the scale of the devastation and lack of any apparent impact crater; thus leading to a range of speculation regarding the cause of the Event.
For me, this story presents a rich metaphorical / conceptual model, in which one is confronted by a traumatic scene and compelled to trace its ambiguous origin-in my case-a domestic setting- where the expectation of safety and comfort is subverted and turned on its head by a sudden and mysterious descent & impact.
‘Tunguska Minor’ Audio
The audio track that accompanies the installation is referred to (by UAP researchers) as ‘The Halt Tape’. This open-source material was originally recorded by USAF Lt. Col. Charles I. Halt on Dec. 28th 1980 while investigating a real-time incident unfolding in the Rendelsham Forest in Suffolk, England in close proximity to the Joint USAF/RAF Bases of RAF Bentwaters & RAF Woodbridge. These twin bases (unbeknownst to the British & in violation of international treaty) housed active USAF nuclear weapons. At the time of the recording Col. Halt was the Deputy Base Commander under Col. Ted Conrad. This event (which actually took place over three separate nights) is considered to be one of the best-documented accounts of actual UAP phenomenon ever to become available to researchers.
The tape recounts a frantic and desperate attempt by multiple USAF personnel sent within the forest to investigate and document a series of bewildering events being experienced by the joint bases.
This recording of a real-time case of psychological disorientation fits directly into the conceptual mosaic of this work.
Below is a link to the Youtube excerpt from the 'Halt Tape'
‘Tunguska Minor’ Exterior Detail
Mixed Media-Wood, lath, kiln-burned pine tar, moving blankets, audio track, ink.
Approximately: 12’L x 7’-6”H x 3’-6” W
2016
Photo by Gordon Pellegrinetti
‘Tunguska Minor’ Viewer Entrance Detail
Mixed Media-Wood, lath, kiln-burned pine tar, moving blankets, audio track, ink.
Approximately: 12’L x 7’-6”H x 3’-6” W
2016
The viewer is shown descending from the landing to the viewport at a 45 degree angle.
Photo by Gordon Pellegrinetti
‘Tunguska Minor’ Viewer Orientation Detail
Mixed Media-Wood, lath, kiln-burned pine tar, moving blankets, audio track, ink.
Approximately: 12’L x 7’-6”H x 3’-6” W
2016
Photo by Gordon Pellegrinetti
This image depicts the viewer poised at the vignette viewing window. The viewer leans at a 45 degree angle during this activity and is acoustically surrounded by padded moving blankets while within this niche.
‘Tunguska Minor’ Detail at Sinkhole Vignette
Mixed Media-Wood, lath, kiln-burned pine tar, moving blankets, audio track, ink.
Vignette: 18”H x 18” W x 4’ Deep
2016
Photo by Gordon Pellegrinetti
This image shows the Main vignette- which illustrates a sinkhole within the center of an ornate 19thC house interior. Splinters of wood flooring material, oozing substance, and scale fragments all lay strewn upon the floor surface, while a small portrait of US Secretary of Defense (GWB Administration) lies partially covered within the opening of a fireplace. The odor of pine tar wafts through the viewport towards the spectator – recalling the installations’ apocalyptic namesake ‘event’.
‘Tunguska Minor’ Detail #2 at Sinkhole Vignette
Mixed Media-Wood, lath, kiln-burned pine tar, moving blankets, audio track, ink.
Vignette: 18”H x 18” W x 4’ Deep
2016
‘Tunguska Minor’ Viewer Exit Detail
Mixed Media-Wood, lath, kiln-burned pine tar, moving blankets, audio track, ink.
Approximately: 12’L x 7’-6”H x 3’-6” W
2016
Photo by Gordon Pellegrinetti
‘Tunguska Minor’ Viewer Exit Detail
Mixed Media-Wood, lath, kiln-burned pine tar, moving blankets, audio track, ink.
Approximately: 12’L x 7’-6”H x 3’-6” W
2016
Photo by Gordon Pellegrinetti
‘Tunguska Minor’ Viewer Exit Detail
Mixed Media-Wood, lath, kiln-burned pine tar, moving blankets, audio track, ink.
Approximately: 12’L x 7’-6”H x 3’-6” W
2016
Photo by Gordon Pellegrinetti
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
The Installation is comprised of seven scorched wood periscopes placed along the perimeter of the room. The spectator gazes through each viewport set within the periscope face to glimpse a distorted architectural vignette within. Each vignette depicts some interior scene in which a level of 'high strangeness' is infused to establish an attitude of unease. Subjects include a basement listening station in which some sudden event has toppled a chair and triggered an alarm, a biology/ morgue lab in which a woman's shoe is placed before an operating theater, a house foyer where a secret door beneath a stair leads to some subterranean passage, a nuclear cooling tower 'gestating' in some hive-like structure, a chapel/ airplane cabin, an arcane storehouse of 'exotic' technologies, and an implied bedroom nighttime abduction scenario.
In addition to the charred periscope surfaces, each structure is laced in kiln-burnt pine tar at its base and viewport to enhance the odor. A droning audio track instantly demarcates the viewing room from the remaining gallery space.
The aim of the work was to create a sense of cognitive dissonance in which fictional, speculative, religious, or paranormal phenomena exist alongside the mundane and commonplace- yielding a reverberation of psychological doubt about the curent state of realities.
The title plays upon the acronym 'S.D.I.' which in my formative years represented the Reagan era weapons system called 'Strategic Defense Initiative' - also dubbed by the press as 'star wars' due to its connection to space-based missile technologies. In previous works I have played with the absurd notion that the 'invisible/ unknown enemies can be defended against by material means-much like the fall-out shelters of the Cold War-ultimately yielding a state of fear, unease, and paranoia. I view these agents of unease as conducting 'incursions' into our comfortable Post-Enlightenment sense of reality. Growing up in a suburban middle class household in the 70s/80s presented me with many challenges to my sense of comfort and security. These fears could be hatched from the realms of religion, superstition, paranormal, and real-world geopolitical tensions to create a hybrid and disorienting reality, where the possiblity existed for the intersection of these seemingly incompatible universes to (for a brief time) co-exist.
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions SDI Periscope Flash (Promotional Image)
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions SDI Persicope (Promotional Image)
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions Detail-SDI-1 Through Lens
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions Detail 'SDI-1: Sage Control'
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions Detail 'SDI-2: Lt Col. Philip J. Corso United States Army Ret.'
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions Detail 'SDI-3: The Navidson Record'
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions Detail 'SDI-5: Travis Walton
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions Detail 'SDI-6: The Working Group'
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions Detail Double Periscope 'SDI-7: Swamp Gas / Weather Balloon'
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions Detail 'SDI-7a Swamp Gas (For Budd Hopkins)'
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
S.even D.iminutive I.ncursions SDI-2 Showing Viewer / Installation
Burnt Russian Birch plywood, poplar framing, kiln-burnt pine tar, convex glass lens (architectural model housed within ea. periscope)
Periscope: 56 x H x 20-1/2 x W x 28 inches.
2015
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
'Tom Ridge'
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
This image depicts the exterior of an immersive installation entitled ‘Tom Ridge’. The viewer rides into the ‘Main Trunk’ upside down and upon a cart to glimpse a central scale model vignette of an old house foyer with a sinkhole at the base of the stair. The sinkhole plunges through the floor and into a flesh-like subterranean vortex. The viewer looks simultaneously both up and down at the same time. The exterior also contains several periscopic protuberances from the Main Trunk - which contain smaller associated vignettes. The piece is fully readable only from glimpsing both outside and inside together. The work is a fabricated psycho-cartography-which plays upon the notion (both historical and metaphorical) of Homeland Security. The form of the Main Trunk is suggestive of coffin, tunnel, or medical scan device-all tenuous homes for the security of the body.
'Tom Ridge' Overall Installation Detail
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
'Tom Ridge' Viewer Orientation Detail
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
'Tom Ridge' Interior Detail
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
Detail image shows viewer 'installed' upon cart within tunnel. The tunnel walls are lined in moving blankets. The viewer propels him/herself via a ceiling mounted wood handrail. The ceiling vignette window can be seen in the distance.
'Tom Ridge' Main Vignette-Sinkhole Detail
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
'Tom Ridge' Illuminated Sinkhole Detail
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
This view shows illuminated sinkhole (as viewer sees it within tunnel). The sinkhole plunges through the foyer and an interstitial basement space before descending into a shaft which rises up and out of eye-shot and is lined in a flesh-like substance (actually fiberglas insulation).
'Tom Ridge' Stair Newel Post / Sinkhole Detail
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
'Tom Ridge' Exterior Detail at Sinkhole
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
This view shows the exterior body of the tunnel at the sinkhole vignette junction.
'Tom Ridge' Periscope #1 Detail
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
This image depicts a viewer glimpsing a mini-vignette contained within the exterior periscope. The viewer must manually pull down a lever set within a metal floor grate in order to view the vignette. The surface of the periscope is finished in t&g oak wood floor boards; both the floor boards and metal grate mimic the scale model vignette within.
'Tom Ridge' Detail at Periscope #1 Vignette
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
The viewer glimpses this vignette when the metal grate louver is pulled down on Periscope #1. The scene depicts an alternate basement 'episode' possibly showing the origin of the flesh-like sinkhole substance.
'Tom Ridge' Periscope #2 Detail
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
'Tom Ridge' Detail at Periscope #2 Vignette
Wood framing, Metal mesh, Mahoghany Handrail, Moving Blankets, Cart, Fiberglas Insulation, Metal Floor Grates, Cast Iron Window Weights, Audio
Approx: 18’L x 3’W x 12’H
2014
This image shows the final? resting place of the base of the staircase within the fleshy sinkhole cavity. An official image of Tom Ridge Secretary of Homeland Security lies beneath the stair remnants.
‘Beneath / Suspicion'
Materials: Pallet wood, nightlights, white sheets, kiln-burned pine tar, wax, muslin, bedspring, incense
Variable Dimensions; Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
All Images courtesy of Gordon Pellegrinetti
A fully-immersive installation in which the viewer is invited to experience from both inside and outside the physical structure. The architecture embodies an oneiric escape tunnel of an ambiguous psychogeographical locale. The participant moves through the confined tunnel space in a supine position, laying upon a wooden ‘creeper’ cart. The outward appearance (of the system) suggests a strange, nearly anthropomorphic oddity or contraption with serpentine tunnel, vertical and horizontal protuberances, quasi-periscopic extensions, and surrounded by tall scale-model POW guard towers. The intended viewer experience is one of continuous disorientation, multi-sensory immersion, and spatial uncertainty. Themes of subterranea, evasion, surveillance, sleep, dream, and the unconscious weave throughout all aspects of the work. A continuous audio loop plays a distorted excerpt from the classic film ‘The Great Escape’ in which a POW Camp escape tunnel is methodically planned listing site locations, tunnel specifications, and subdivision of labor assignments. The overall aesthetic vocabulary of the work conveyed an austere, utilitarian, and quasi-militaristic sensibility.
Beneath / Suspicion
Excerpts from the Notebook of T.D.H. Castle-Tunnel Master 2nd Class
Tunnel Manifesto
The Tunnel is a feat of Subversive Engineering
It is an open act of Rebellion in Defiance of a Monolithic Enemy
Outwardly it dons a peculiar yet unassuming presence; meanwhile its Interior is rife with Diligent Agency directed toward a Desperate Bid for the Forest of Freedom
It is a design of Audacious Construction achieved through Remorseless Guile focused upon a single aim
The Tunnel is a means by which Escape is facilitated-yet it is filled with reminders of what Is being fled
The Tunnel is an Ephemeral Entity-It cannot be dwelled-in permanently for it then becomes a Catacomb
Despite Crushing Odds against its survival by the Ever-Vigilant Foe It must maintain its Noble Trajectory
The Tunnel Is Lined with Intention and Padded with Vigor
So It Is that the Artist/Excavator must Burrow Her/His way to Liberation from the constraints of Both External & Internal Ever-Vigilant, Tireless
Societal Super-Egos
To Evade Oppressive Forces, the Artist/ Burrower must don an unassuming façade & perform the Expected Rites- but all the while daily toiling in the subterranean trenches that lead to Liberation
The Tunnel System is traversed by Kindred
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Overall Panoramic View
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail at Canopy Bed Entrance
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Viewer Orientation Detail
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Tunnel View
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Interior Detail w/ Viewer & Cart
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Mark J. Snyder
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail at Church Aisle Vignette
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail at Fleshy Vortex Vignette
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail at Camp 104 Vignette
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail at Periscope #1
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail at Periscope #1 Vignette-Floorburst
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail at Tunnels' End
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail at Exit Structure
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail Showing Viewer Emergence
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Beneath / Suspicion' Detail at Exterior Guard Tower
Wood framing, oak pallet wood, drapery, nightlights, kiln-burned pine tar, incense, muslin. glass view lenses, fiberglas insulation, audio track.
Tunnel Portion- 3’W x 2’-8”H x approx. 120’L
2013
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Aloft (for Jean Honoré F.)’
Mixed Media (Wood, plaster, paint, polyurethane, organic materials, rose scent, drywall, light fixtures, fan, audio loop.)
8’W x 7’-6”H x 15’L
2012
An immersive installation in which the viewer is compelled to adopt a seated, reclining posture in order to fully view (through a framed opening) a scale-model stone masonry tunnel, which recedes upward at a 45 degree angle approximately 15’ into the distance. The shaft is dimly lit at regular intervals and interrupted at a midway point by an intersecting doorway, in which various objects are strewn within the floor matrix (tree branch, swing, female shoe). The objects appear as if ejected from the causeway as a result of some unknown ‘event’ -as if transported from Fragonard’s painting through some ‘black-hole’ of space/time into this ‘Tarkovskian’ construct. A security camera acting as the agent of the tunnel’s self-awareness highlights the intrusion. The piece is an indirect homage to Jean-Honore Fragonard’s iconic painting ‘The Swing’. In ‘Aloft’, the viewer inhabits the ‘space’ occupied by the upward gazing male ‘suitor’ in Fragonard’s painting. As the piece is glimpsed from the viewer’s fixed vantage, a gentle breeze wafts through the tunnel carrying with it the faint scent of rose petals. At the same time a mechanical droning sound can be faintly heard coursing through the space.
‘Aloft (for Jean Honoré F.)’ Exterior Detail
Mixed Media (Wood, plaster, paint, polyurethane, organic materials, rose scent, drywall, light fixtures, fan, audio loop.)
8’W x 7’-6”H x 15’L
2012
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Aloft (for Jean Honoré F.)’ Viewer Orientation Detail
Mixed Media (Wood, plaster, paint, polyurethane, organic materials, rose scent, drywall, light fixtures, fan, audio loop.)
8’W x 7’-6”H x 15’L
2012
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Aloft (for Jean Honoré F.)’ Interior Tunnel View
Mixed Media (Wood, plaster, paint, polyurethane, organic materials, rose scent, drywall, light fixtures, fan, audio loop.)
8’W x 7’-6”H x 15’L
2012
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
‘Aloft (for Jean Honoré F.)’ Interior Detail at Ejecta Field
Mixed Media (Wood, plaster, paint, polyurethane, organic materials, rose scent, drywall, light fixtures, fan, audio loop.)
8’W x 7’-6”H x 15’L
2012
Image credits: Gordon Pellegrinetti.
Jean-Honore Fragonard
'The Swing'
1787
The Wallace Collection, London
Viewers traversed the space individually; crouching within the tunnel, walking upon a breadcrumb floor bed to a silent interaction with two performers at the tunnels end.
Images courtesy of Gordon Pellegrinetti.
Wood lathe, breadcrumbs, night lights, muslin, performers
5'H x 3.5'W x 25'L
2010
Photo courtesy of Gordon Pellegrinetti
Wood lathe, breadcrumbs, night lights, muslin, performers
5'H x 3.5'W x 25'L
2010
Photo courtesy of Gordon Pellegrinetti
Wood lathe, breadcrumbs, night lights, muslin, performers
5'H x 3.5'W x 25'L
2010
Performers:
Morgan Fallon (seated), David Merkel
Photo courtesy of Gordon Pellegrinetti
Graphite, Pen & Ink on Paper
2011
‘Tunguska’ (A Work In Progress)
This piece is a direct outgrowth of several earlier works ‘Tom Ridge’, and ‘Beneath Suspicion’. In each of those works the viewer is required to adopt some atypical posture/ orientation in order to traverse the architectural limits of the work.
The viewer is invited to enter (one at a time) a rectangular wood framed structure via a door set into one of its walls. The dimensions of this structure are 8’”H x 4’W x Approx. 30’L. Once inside, a dark fabric curtain is drawn aside to reveal a wooden staircase (as one might have in an old house). The stair appears to be vertical but is instead oriented at a nearly horizontal pitch. At the end of the stair ‘ascent’ lies a landing with a partial door/framed opening through which a scale model vignette is placed. The vignette can only be glimpsed if the viewer makes the entire ‘climb’. The ceilings are pitched to mimic the stair ‘rise’ and the viewer is compelled by the sloping ceiling to adopt a climbing posture even though the stair is horizontal. Two wooden side handrails allow the viewer to adopt this counter-intuitive posture to safely traverse the piece.
The entire structure is acoustically insulated to create a zone of isolation.
A feint air-current will be emitted from the end/ landing to further impel the viewer to make the strange climb to investigate its source. An audio track depicting a droning, scraping, trumpet-like noise is played on a loop.
The vignette scenario is subject to change as the body of the piece is constructed; possible scenarios include:
· An ejecta blanket comprised of small scale objects associated with the intimate pleasures of the home-chairs, sofas, lamps, bookcases, books, claw-foot tubs, bed frames etc.
· A cave-like shaft curving down & out of view- transitioning from house construction materials, thru rock, and finally to a fleshy/ organic substance.
· In either instance I am looking to convey an air of cognitive dissonance between entrance and end-point.
The exterior aesthetic of the structure will play with the conceptual nature of the interior, making a piece that is dually readable. The exact configuration is yet to be determined, but as in the case of my earlier works the exterior will often contain reconstituted elements from the interior as if two parallel realities have collided and transferred their material to each other.
The source of the title ‘Tunguska’ comes from the famous historical/ astronomical event - which occurred in Siberia in the early 1900s. For me this story presents a rich metaphorical / conceptual rabbit-hole in which one is confronted by a shocking scene and compelled to trace its very origin-in my case-a domestic setting- where the promise of ascent is subverted and turned on its head by a sudden and mysterious descent & impact.
'Tunguska' Exterior Elevations
Proposed Section detail for 'Tunguska' showing dimension and viewer orientation.
'Tunguska' concept sketch
Image depicting impact crater.
Image depicting levelled forest.
