The Tin Man
Statement
In the 19th century and before, when a tribal member died, the
Native Americans would build an elaborate platform for the body
and place special objects beside the deceased for his journey into
the afterlife: his war shirt, his medicine bag, even food. The
Egyptians had buried their dead in much the same way. In the
Middle Ages, a large marble tomb that had been built for a mem-
ber of the moneyed classes would often be decorated with a
likeness, of effigy, of that person, which would then be comple-
mented by an array of objects meant to represent either various
personal attributes, or to signify certain events, or refer to their
status in life.
In my work, the tin man acts as a funerary effigy
in a way quite
similar to this, but with a slightly different spin: I present the tin
man as a primitive would create a symbol for "Man" or "a
man"
and use it again and again, as a sort of recurring form or template.
I've also placed objects on the tin man's shoulders in the same
spirit as those above mentioned examples. Since I've been in-
volved in researching my family's history for the past 10 years,
I've heard many stories about my ancestors. I've attempted to
personify these individuals by placing objects on the tin man's
shoulders that would represent their personal attributes. These
objects also could be things the person used, things pertaining to
specific events or references to the way they died. In some cases,
I've borrowed from the 16th-17th century Dutch vanities tradition
of still life painting, in that the objects represented refer to the
transient nature of life itself ("momento mori").
My preference for a frontal presentation of the figure comes
from several sources. I've always been interested in roman portrait
sculpture, particularly the torsos of the emperors in military dress.
These pieces had been full figures, but in the passage of time, have
lost their limbs and, in some cases, their heads: this enhances the
intricate decorative activity on the military breastplates...
When I was a child, I found a stack of old photo albums
in a
cabinet; no one had looked at them for years. I pestered everyone
for information about theses images from past generations: who
were these people and how were they related to me, what did they
do in life and how did they die. When I was well into this infor-
mation-gathering process, it struck me that I could use the tin man
as a funerary effigy by doing tombstone rubbings on the chest
(a perfect field for an inscription) and incorporate those into
paintings. I'd been photographing ancestral tombstones all across
the Midwestern and Southern United States for reference, so now,
in addition to that, I'd rub the tombstones as well. As I began
making these pieces, all the above mentioned art historical
concerns appeared in the work, reinforcing my idea to visually
realize this personal history.
In essence, as I recreate my past, I build my discoveries
into the
work simultaneously. I also realize that the discoveries I'm making
about my own family are about all families as well. And, being
about families, the work is also about the singular lives of individ-
uals, with regard to the pieces themselves, the treatment of surface
and the inclusion of certain referential objects endeavors to reflect
the impact of both larger events and smaller everyday occurrences
on the lives of these individuals and, in turn, on our own lives. The
work, as it unfolds, is a sort of road map, or puzzle, of the human
condition."
Click here to view chronology
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412 19th Avenue Southwest
Minot, North Dakota 58701-6420
Phone (701) 858-3242
Fax (701) 858-3894
E-mail address: ndaga@ndaga.org
North Dakota Art Gallery Association.