Conclusion

PHOTO: BRITTANY LESTER

Without doubt this project was the most challenging that I have ever undertaken. That having been said, the project actually went pretty smoothly in my opinion. Of course there were plenty of obstacles to overcome and each presented its own difficulties. However, just because a task is challenging it doesn't follow that the it is going poorly. or that your doing a poor job. It simply means, that completing the task is a challenge...the important ones usually are.

When the choice was made to use this project for the thesis, I had little idea of how it would be produced, or what it would look like. It was like a hunch...a feeling for the mood and look of the piece. I thought i knew what it was about and what it meant, but I really had a good idea of what I was going for. Then I started to think about it.

In January of 2008 I really started to think about it. I thought about how it would be done, what tools would be needed, what it meant, why I wanted to do this (my influences), how and where to display this. I realized early on that I would need to learn more about other projects of this medium and style.

I registered for an independent study Art History course in mixed media/assemblage/performance/installation art to educate myself on other artists who work this way. I also made sure to register for an independent study course in the studio practices of that style of art making for the final semester I was in school. These courses were of great help to me. Not only did I learn a lot about other artists working in this manner, but also about where I fit into that niche of the art world.

The professors exposed me to a wealth of information that gave perspective on what I was doing. This was both a help and a hurdle for me. I was able to figure out what it was exactly I wanted to do and how to do it, but at the same time I was thinking about the project in relation to many different contexts. It became quite difficult to figure out what the content of my work even was....let alone how that content would be expressed by the actual work I was producing.

One of the things that helped me to make sense of the project was an assignment from the thesis committee. I was to produce a visual map of my influences on the wall so that I could see and connect the ideas i was dealing with. I was able to actually look at all the things I was thinking about and determine which of them were or were not useful to the project. This allowed me to focus on only the important ideas and how they related to each other, in a sense creating the context of the work.

It is not an easy task for me to articulate what this work is really about. I feel that there is something ineffable about it. I have always felt that if an idea was easily expressed in words, there would be little need (or drive) to express it visually. A few of the main themes present in the work are the car/beast metaphor, the relationship between subject and object, ideas about simulation and the common notion of the car itself.

When this project started I liked to call it an examination of the relationships we have with our possessions through the terms of use. I feel that is an accurate statement regarding my desire to produce this body of work. I wanted to examine these relationships, twist my mind around them and express the findings visually.

I used my own car for this project because of the relationship I had with it. I was the subject and it was the object. For me though sometimes it felt as though the situation was reversed but I think now that it only seemed that way because it became an extension of my subjective self as I controlled its actions. The strongest feelings that the car was its own subject came when there was unexpected behavior from the car. A mysterious break down would make me feel like i was not in control and provide me with the feeling that the car had its own subjectivity. This made it more like the relationship was two sided.

Another important reason I used the Lumina was because I had a dream. At this point the exact details are scattered into the corners of my mind, but I do know that the car was talking to me. The hood opened and closed like a mouth and it spoke to me. I knew then that I would use the car for my thesis project. I did not know what the end product would be. It is important though that the car was alive in the dream. This coincides with the interpretation of the car as a beast in the conception of the project.





The car/beast metaphor is of the utmost importance to my conceptualization of the project. It is likely the most apparent metaphor to viewers in two ways. Firstly, the title of the project simulates the word animal and brings about notions of a beast of sort. The misspellings in the title are nice as they seem to imply that something is not right about this animal. Also, the creation of primal looking objects out of the materials of the car brings about notions of ancient civilizations making use of killed beasts for their clothing and tools.





It is important to note that I am not a person from an ancient civilization. As a result of this anything I produced from the cars body and any rituals performed in relation with the project are simulations based on what I think I know about the behavior of ancient people. The biological hardware is the same, I take in sense data and react. As more data comes in, my reactions get better and so do the results.





The difference is that the world I live in today is not and can not be the world of our ancestors. People learn from each other and the cumulative effect of 200,000 years of learning is a civilization that is drastically complex and entirely different from that of ancient people. I am producing a representation of what someone from my culture thinks that someone from an ancient culture would make from a killed beast...if that beast were a car. It is a simulation with substitutions.

These substitutions are very important to the concept of this work. Understanding the piece as a whole would not be possible without acknowledging them. There are both material and cultural substitutions throughout. The most obvious of the material substitutions is that of the car. The car is similar to a beast both in structure and use resulting in a multi layered metaphor. It was created to replace the use of beasts for transport and because of that, the anatomy of the car mimes that of an animal with substitutions of its own. My substitution of the car for a beast re-mimes these substitutions and this is indeed what a great deal of the concept for I.E ANIMUL is based around.

This crucial change is also responsible for further material changes as it was the source used to make the objects as well as the theme for the rituals involved with the work. The rituals are largely cultural substitutions for ancient rituals that related to beasts. For example in many ancient cultures it was considered a rite of passage for a young man to slay his first beast. This signaled his transition from the world of a boy to the world of a man. In my own culture, a young person getting their first car has a somewhat similar significance. It signals an ability to take on responsibility as well as grants a level of freedom that usher the child into the world of adults. In the concept of my project this similarity is no mere coincidence.

The cultural substitutions were a physical necessity for the project as I have no exact knowledge of ancient rituals. More importantly, they were conceptually necessary because they are what connects the project to my own culture. This project is after all about my relationship with the world I live in. Sometimes that world seems so abstract and uncanny that I have a difficult time believing it is real. It is no surprise that my artwork seeks to express an abstract and twisted world considering that so much of what I encounter in my life gives me an unsettled feeling. I explore those unsettled feelings and express them visually in the form of art, quite often as a way of coping with them. Works like I.E ANIMUL are the result of me trying to deal with and rationalize an irrational world (or possibly vice versa).

As the end of this project was approaching I made a conscious decision to take a break from producing works of art once it was finished. I wasn't quite sure why or how long the break would last, I simply felt it was necessary. I think now that this was because for quite some time my life became about making this work of art. It consumed all of my energy and time. The abstract nature of the world continually leaked into my creative process. If the thing I do to cope with the confusing nature of the world becomes just as confusing, it no longer works as a coping mechanism.

It has been a few months since the project was finished and exhibited. I haven't made any serious works of art. I did make a couple of drawings and ideas continue to come to me. I write them down in my journal and continue to track my creative impulses. At this point I still feel that I need some more time off from producing major artworks. Some days though I feel that I have to make something for fear that I am going insane.

The art I plan on producing in the future will most certainly be conceptual in nature. A few of the themes I wish to express are the notion of use, sustainability and relationships with the people and objects of the world. The next project I am planning has to do with relational aesthetics. The plan involves writing letters. It started with a desire to meet our current president Barack Obama. The idea is to research (his issues, policies, etc.) to read his books and to ask questions that I feel are relevant to the things that are important to my life. The goal is to strike up a meaningful dialogue with 'the most powerful person in the world' with the hopes of actually meeting him and having our photograph taken together. The image is an important part of the concept for the project as it will make a great impact on viewers.

I do of course also plan on continuing to create visual works of art. One thing I truly miss is drawing. I want to put charcoal to paper and produce a series of drawings. I even feel the urge to simply work on my ability to produce drawings with realism. I want to work on these skills as I feel they will help me to be more employable as an art professor in the future. Aside from that, drawing is for me an essential part of my creative process. I sort out my ideas through drawing around the ideas contained within them. I.E ANIMUL was no exception to this as I produced several drawings (and prints of those drawings) in relation with the project.

For me this project was the culmination of everything I learned as an art student. It is my finest piece yet both formally and conceptually. I feel that it thoughtfully engages the ideas and culture of my time and place. Of course as the creator I feel that there are things I could have done better, or more that I could have done that would have added to the work. On the other hand though it was an ambitious task to undertake and the final results speak to this, which in my opinion makes the whole thing more impressive. I don't wish to sound pompous (though I suppose I do) but I am very pleased with the work I produced.



To everyone who helped me, to all of my teachers and friends who supported me and challenged my ideas and to my family, Thank you.

Thesis Exhibition and Reception

PHOTO: MEHDI HASHEMI

PHOTO: MEHDI HASHEMI

Once the performances were done, the objects were made and the video was all edited, The job of installing the work in the gallery began. This is really half true, because a few weeks before the actual installation started I had actually already begun building some of the shelves for the objects to sit on. Even longer before that, i was planning how it would all go up...and securing displays and the gallery itself. A lot of thought and work went into making the exhibit happen.

As all of the objects were shown in gallery setting in the last post, I will here refer you to the pictures there for image references.

Building the shelves was one of the easiest parts of making the display. I simply found scrap wood and cut the boards to size. Then I sanded and primed them with gesso. I bought shelf brackets and attached the shelves to the wall. Then painted them to match the wall white.

Placing the objects on the shelves was easy...figuring out where the shelves needed to be was a little tougher.

Several of the other objects were hung directly on the wall with nails or clear tacks. Still others on pedestals. Larger objects like the throne and half car were displayed directly on the gallery floor. Moving the car into and then repositioning it were the two most difficult tasks of the installation process.

I had to enlist the help of several people to help me move the car from the staging area to the gallery. Fortunately I had a lot of friends willing to do me a favor. I started off by using a chain to pull the car across the gravel to the pavement of the power arts parking lot. I had hoped that the steering would still work for the one tire, and I was lucky...it did. This made it fairly easy for us to push the jagged 1/2 car across the lot and control its direction fairly easily (i say fairly because the power steering did not work and much force was needed to turn the wheel). We pushed the thing right in the front door. It fit just barely through and we placed it in the gallery straight ahead of the door behind a column.

Later, as I began installing the other works around this position, a professor (a smart one) mentioned that what was there did not look as good as it could, and suggested I spread out. He noted that the car was in a bad spot, and that it should be moved to a certain place. At first this frustrated the hell out of me as I simply wanted to be finished with the project. I completely disagreed with him and argued for some time. I got so stressed out that I stopped working entirely. I smoked a couple cigarettes...then decided i needed to smoke weed and re-evaluate the situation.

After smoking I sat in the gallery for a while (a half hour or so) looking at it and thinking about what could be better. I decided to move the car (exactly where the professor had suggested realizing it was indeed the best spot for it) and then began moving everything else around, editing down and spreading out. The next day I organized some friends to help me move the car one more time. Doing this was simpler than I thought it would be. We simply pushed the car a little forward, cut the wheel all the way and pushed it to make the turn. Then, parallel parked it (cut the wheel the other way and went forward) into the perfect place. Rested the frame on the Jack stands and we were finished.

After that all that was to be done was touch up the paint on the shelves, put up the vinyl lettering title prepare food for the reception and place it on a table. Special thanks go to Josh and Eugene for figuring out the menu and preparing the food.

The reception (in my opinion) was a resounding success. There were so many people there that I felt I was talking the entire night. Almost all of the food was eaten and the majority of the beer and wine were gone. It seemed like everyone had a good time to me...I know I did. It was odd too though...there was a feeling like after all I had done the reception was over so quickly and there was a serious sense of the project being complete.

Video Documentation

Towards the end of the project I had to begin compiling, editing, and formatting the video documentation I had shot in order to display it at the Thesis exhibition. There were a lot of decisions to be made and I had a lot of options to consider. Once I had decided to use a television rather than projection for my display method I had to procure a television set and a DVD player.

While I was finding these and even afterward, I was working on editing the video. There were a lot of steps to this process. The camera I used was a JVC Digital HD camcorder that outputted .TOD files. These files were of high quality, but could not be read by Adobe Premiere (the video editing file I used...I also tried Final Cut Pro, but found that I liked Premiere better). So I had to download MPEG stream clip and a quick time alternative in order to change the encapsulation of the video to a format that could be read by the program. This was complicated as I had little experience in this (my thanks to Chris Weber for all the help he gave me during this step of the project). After a lot of experimenting and fiddling with the software(sometimes i produced files that started as 6 GB and ended at 70 GB), I was able to produce files of manageable size that could be read by Premiere. Next I had to edit the raw video for time and content. Some of the videos were good as they were, but in other cases a lot of video had to be edited out.

In the end I had around 56 minutes of video documenting seven performances. The video showed me shoveling the car out of a snowbank, revving the engine, doing donuts, washing the car, jacking the car up, bleeding the fluids from the car and burning the engine. Once I had the video for all of these performances edited (a painstakingly long process was involved in this) I still had to figure out how to put them on a DVD. This is where Adobe Encore came in. I simply opened the program, Chris showed me the basics and then I experimented until I got the result I wanted. I had to make five DVDs before I got one that really worked. Each time I made one though, I learned a little more about how the program worked and got closer to my ultimate goal.

At one point I thought I had done it, and I went to a friends house to view the results as at the time I had not got the DVD player yet and I needed to borrow theirs. At this point I discovered that I had forgot to de-interlace the video for one of the pieces (donuts) and the whole thing was flashing choppy lines. Because of this I had to go back, re-encapsulate the video for that piece, then re-edit the video with the new files....then render it (this takes about 3 hours) and then replace it into the DVD menu.

Finally after all this, I had a working DVD that would play immediately, then cycle through the videos in order and at the end repeat the sequence.

Making The Objects (Part 2)

Making these necklaces out of parts from the car was important. Jewelry for me represents an object of luxury and thus reflects our use in modern culture of the car as a luxury object. One thing that was important to me in creating these was the use of luxurious materials in their crafting.

The first one I made was the bulb necklace. I started there because the parts were easily accessible. I liked the shininess and color of the turn signal bulb as it seemed to simulate the use of amber in jewelry. after attaching it to a wire making the general form of the necklace I wound the wire with a great deal of copper wire taken from various electronic components. This step was quite time consuming, but that time was apparent in viewing the finished product.

After that I decided to get away from using the glass bulbs and move toward pendants. At first I was looking at a lot of different materials, but I decided upon pieces of copper from the electronics of the car. The first problem I had to solve was how to free the pieces of copper from the plastic molds that held them. As the pieces did not come apart I surmised that the plastic was molded around the copper pieces and would have to be destroyed to get the copper out. I took what seemed the most appropriate course in solving this problem...I hit the plastic piece with a rock to try and break it. The principle was sound as the piece broke, but pieces of plastic and copper went flying all over the studio. Then, to much success I amended the method by placing the plastic pieces between two wooden boards and hitting the top board with a hammer. After a half of an hour of what I like to call 'harvesting' I had a decent amount of small, interestingly shaped copper pieces.

I took these copper pieces and began placing them in different formations until I had an arrangement that pleased me. I then took copper wire from the car and wound it around the pieces to bind them together creating the pendants. I made one of the necklaces in the same manner as the one with the bulb (simply attaching the pendant to a wire for the necklace and then wrapping that wire with more). However the last necklace I produced was much more intricate.

For the final necklace I produced, instead of simply attaching the pendant to a wire and wrapping it, I decided to produce a braided copper chain. I used six strands of very thin copper wire and wrapped them around the pendant itself and then began braiding two separate strands to comprise the necklace. This was the most time consuming step in the production of this piece. 7 to 8 hours of straight braiding produced the two ends of the necklace each almost 8 inches long. This was well worth the time and in my opinion it was the most impressive of all the necklaces.

Add something about masks importance here.

This mask was actually the first thing I created. The maroon molded plastic pieces that comprise the overall structure of the mask were taken from the interior wall paneling. the face of the mask was the part that covered where the seat belt was attached to the ceiling. The mane around the face and the eye lashes were constructed out of snipped sections of the cars electronic wiring.

The only binding agent I used was gorilla glue. This proved to take quite a lot of time as the parts needed to dry. I first glued the face to the base of the mask. Next the wiring was placed to make the mane. Each strip of wire was dipped into gorilla glue and placed....it seemed like there were hundreds of them. Once it was all dry a wire was glued to the back for a hanging mechanism (this was a work of art, not a functional mask).

This mask was produced very quickly. the bulk of the work happened over a two day span. The first thing I did was to shape the metal pieces of the mask from part of the sheet metal from the bottom of the car. This metal wasn't actually part of the frame but was attached to the frame on the bottom between the frame and the exhaust pipe. I believe that this was a form of heat shield. I took the metal because it seemed to be shaped so perfectly for my task.

All I really did to the metal was cut out the eye holes and to pull the ends together so that it would wrap around a head. I then drilled the holes and secured it with bolts. This made the general frame for the mask. Next I used a section of tire to place inside as a top (for your head). I then began placing wires, tubes, and various other interesting looking parts from the car. I secured everything in place by pouring various glues over the top....not the best binding method, but it worked for my purposes.

Of all the masks, this was by far the easiest to construct. The pieces were composed of parts from the air filter compartment for the engine and a plastic piece that was between the hood and the windshield wipers. I simply cut a hole in the air filter compartment and placed the wiper part (the tall part with the face on it) on top of it and secured it with long bolts.

Because of the resemblance to Darth Vader's mask, I began thinking of this as my version of a Vader mask. As an homage to George Lucas' Vader, I placed a Darth Vader sound maker inside it during the thesis exhibition that continuously made the iconic breathing sounds. I felt that this was a nice touch to the piece as it hinted at the origin of the parts for the mask as well as winked at one of the most loved pop culture phenomenons of all time.

The Throne was fairly straight forward in its construction. I made use of an old futon frame to make the base. Next I modified the width of the frame by cutting out sections and welding the cross bars together. I then put down a board and secured that to the frame. Next I wrapped that board with the carpeting from the floor (I turned it inside out as I enjoyed the look of the bottom side more). Next I secured the seats to the board and a good deal was complete.

It was not until a conversation with John and Happiness (fellow graduate students) that the idea of using the ceiling panel as an umbrella surfaced. This was in my opinion a brilliant idea and I freely adopted the idea. It was short work to figure out that a section of exhaust pipe could be used as an upright pole. On the other hand, the process of finding the correct pieces to accompany the pipe to support the panel in a good position and carefully balancing and gluing the entire thing together took quite more time. After that the throne was mostly complete, but it still felt unfinished, and the futon frame was obviously visible which disturbed the idea of everything being made out of the car for most viewers (myself included). The solution to this problem was to make use of the front and back bumpers of the car as armrests. After a few alterations, they fit perfectly. This addition truly finished the piece off well. They served both to hide the futon frame and make the throne seem more majestic. The last thing to do was to place the crown jewel on the top. This was a piece of the alternator which I had removed and disassembled quite a while before actually constructing the throne. I knew I loved the piece and wanted to use it for something but was unsure what I could do with it...once the throne was complete and I realized it needed something to top off the exhaust pipe I knew exactly what to use. Balancing it on took some time and glue and patience, but In my opinion it was exactly the perfect thing to top off the piece.

The inclusion of the throne was a critical decision and the piece itself served a crucial function to the viewers of the exhibition. Thrones are seats for kings and dignitaries, the Idea of a throne for my viewer brings about ideas of a king (perhaps winking at the song "King of the Road" by roger miller). Also, the fact that my throne has two seats should imply that this king has a queen by his side.

The positioning of the throne in the gallery was also of importance. It was situated directly across from the television displaying video documentation of performances and crucial process steps. This setup for me represented hints toward a couple of things. For one it simulated the modern practice of placing comfortable seating across from television in American households. Also, it brings about notions of the inclusion of televisions in many of the vehicles of luxury today.

One of the earlier constructed pieces was a ritual chest adornment that was supposed to be worn as part of the Burning ceremony, but was unfortunately not packed when I left the house. It was constructed out of the air filter from the car's engine and some wiring that just happened to match the color of the plastic edge of the filter perfectly. The black center piece of the adornment was a vent for heating near the rear passenger seat. I cut the shape out of the filter and simply placed the vent in. It looked messy inside so i cut out a panel from a matching orange t-shirt and placed it behind the vent. All that was left was to glue the vent in and the piece was complete.

The display for the piece was provided by Raquel (a fellow graduate student) and looked quite different when I got it. I painted it with spray paint and then sanded it to smooth out the rough torn paper surface of the display. Next I coated it with gesso three times and sanded it. One more coat of white paint and i felt it was display worthy. In the exhibition this piece served as a transitional piece to usher in the garments that I produced.

The suit of ceremonial garb I created was for the most part fairly simple to construct. at several times It seemed as if the pieces of the car were already made to be the garments they became. The first thing I made was the cloak garment. I knew from the start that I wanted a cloak or cape like robe to be included, I selected a large portion of the trunk liner as it was of a decent material and size. I wrapped the liner around my shoulders to see if it was large enough and how it had to be modified. When I looked in the mirror what I saw already seemed to be perfect and I was overjoyed. All that had to be done was to sew on the graphical design (a ready made piece of insulation from a door panel) on and find a broach to hold it together. The Chevrolet emblem from the front of the car was a perfect choice for this.

The waist garment was entirely as simple to put together as it too was a slightly modified floor mat from the back seat of the car. All I had to do was drill two holes in the right places and clasp it together with a nut, bolt and the large button like piece of metal from where the spare tire rests in the trunk. The hat was almost as simple to construct. I took a piece of fabric that was glued to the door panel and simply sewed a seam to make the cone. I sewed the seam with the fabric inside out so that when the hat was turned right side out the seam would be clean.

The most complicated parts of the garment to build were the shoes by far. The first thing I did was to cut the rubber soles out of the spare tire. I let the air out of the tire and cut the rubber into sections with my reciprocating saw. After I had the rubber in good sized chunks, I traced my foot onto the rubber where the tread was. After cutting the shape out of the rubber with an expandable utility knife, it was time to make the cloth portion of the shoe for it to attach to. To make it I followed the design for a low top converse all star. I examined the shoe to mime its pattern. I drew it onto more of the trunk liner fabric and cut the bottoms, side walls and tongues out. I then sewed all the pieces together which took a good deal of time.

After building the two main components of the shoe I had to find a way to attach them to each other. I tried a few different adhesives (liquid nails, hot glue, Elmer's, and rubber cement) before I discovered Shoe Goo. This was the only adhesive that seemed to bond the rubber to the cloth very well. Once the Goo dried, there was still a problem, the seam where the shoe and rubber met looked ugly. I solved this by covering the seam with the serpentine belt from the engine. It had to be washed well to remove the dirt and grease, then cut into short strips which had to be individually glued to the shoe and secured with rubber bands while the goo set. This was important though so as to match the irregular shape of the shoes. After The last pieces of the belt were dried all that had to happen was for lace holes to be punched and for black wiring to be strung up as laces. in the end, the shoes did not fit me as I had used my own foot as a pattern, resulting in shoes that where a bit too small after being built.

The photograph of me wearing the garment was quite necessary to include in the exhibition. As the garments were displayed as art objects out of context. Including the photo allowed the viewers a glance into the appropriate context of what they were viewing and thus helped them to understand what they were looking at.

The survival tools and weapons I created took some time as I had never attempted anything like this before. A lot of the work involved cutting and shaping metal from the car to make blades. I cut the metal with either tin snips or a cutting torch and then hit the metal repeatedly with a hammer on an anvil to either flatten or curve the metal as necessary.

After the blades were produced I had to provide grips and handles for them to make them more useful. in a few cases I simply used wiring from the car to wrap directly around the metal blade to make a handle. For one knife however, I cut a special handle from the simulated wood paneling and secured it to the blade with epoxy putty. In the case of the two axes, I searched the woods and found suitable branches to perform as handles for the blades and then attached them.

After all of the Bladed tools were constructed I sharpened them. This took some time, but provided a functionality to them. The knives really cut and I even used the larger axe to cut wood during the burning ceremony.

The bow was fairly easy to produce as all that was involved was cutting some mount arms off of the rack where the windshield wipers were mounted to the car. This piece was then turned upright, a handle was wrapped out of wiring from the car and a bungee chord from the car was strung up as a string. The shaft of the arrow mas made out of the radio antenna from the car. I cut an arrowhead out of sheet metal from the car and secured it on with epoxy putty and wire. The fletching was made from the woven cloth of the seat belts which were glued on and then secured with felt from the trunk and more Shoe Goo.

The musical instruments were complicated objects to produce. I had never made musical instruments before, not to mentions that I was making them out of parts from a car.

The upright bass (more accurately the upright acoustic peg stick wham-o-la) was made from the gas tank, the support from the passenger side where the front door latches and the back door was attached, a hinge from the door, a metal part from the car that seemed to be the perfect shape for the bridge, and a thick gauge wire.

First I had to drain the gas from the tank and allow it to air out. Next I pured water into the tank and rinsed it out (i repeated this step three times). Once I had let it air out some time longer it was time to weld the neck (door support) to the tank. This was a nerve wrecking moment as I had some fear that there would be enough fumes left in the tank to explode (the tank did smell strongly of gasolene). Fortunately the tank did not explode but there was still quite a problem with the welding. The metal of the gas tank was rather thin and when I used the MIG welder to attach the thicker metal of the neck, the tank metal simply melted away. In response to this I was forced to dial back both the speed and temperature of the welder and move quite quickly. The result worked even though the majority of my welds were rather ugly. even still they did the job and as one of my professors commented, the project was not about welding so the ugliness did not matter. Next I welded the hinge to the top of the neck this served both as a place for the string to attach as well as provided the function of a fulcrum to pull back (tightning the string and raising the pitch of the tone produced by the instrument). I then welded the metal bridge onto the gas tank (slow going and ugly welding again) beneath the sound hole. Then I welded a metal rod into the base so that the rather heavy instrument would have something to sit on. This was mostly an aesthetic choice to mime the floor peg of standard upright bases. After this the only step was to affix a handle to the hinge so that the player would have something to pull on. This part was a metal rod from the trunk that was attached to the hinge with epoxy putty. A rubber stopper from the spark pulg connection was used as a rubber grip for the handle.

As I have already discussed the construction process of the rattle, I will jump directly to the guitar seen on the right. Finding all the pieces and putting them together to make this guitar like instrument was quite a challenge. I searched for some time to find all the parts I would need, and in the end had to apropriate tuning pegs from an old guitar.

The sound chamber is the engine coolant resivoir. this was attached to a bent metal bar that was a support for the trunk door. Both of these were unmodified other than a couple of drilled holes to attach the two with bolts. The head stock for the instrument is made from an aluminum coolant chamber from the radiator that I cut open. this was secured onto the top of the steel bar and set in position with epoxy putty. I then cut a pice of black plastic for the nut and found a couple bent metal pieces from the car that could be bolted together to support the tuners. After bolting all of this together and modifying the tuning pegs (I removed three and replaced the plastic finger holds with knobs from the trunk of the car) I had to put a bridge on the instrument. I cut a section of the maroon plastic from the interior and used liquid nails to set it in place. All that was left was to string and tune the instrument. For the exhibition I chose to string the guitar with the electrical wiring to maintain the aesthetic of the piece. These wires did not sound very pretty as strings (or tune well) but they certainly looked the part.

After making everthing all that was left to do was install it all in the gallery, the last step before the exhibition.

Making the Objects

From the very start of this project, the intent was to create a series of objects that would simulate the way a killed beast would be used by hunters in a primal culture. I say simulation for a couple of reasons. First, as I come from my own culture...a highly 'civilized' one at that...I am of course not going to be able to produce objects exactly like those of a primal man. Second and most importantly, I was not using a beast, I was using a 1990 Chevy Lumina. Common sense will tell you that the materials of a car are quite different from those of a large beast.


So in the actual making of my objects, I had a hard time figuring out where to start. From all the time I spent planning I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted to make, and some thoughts on what I wanted to make them out of. I chose certain types of objects to make based not only on what I felt I would need to survive were I a primal man but also based on conscious and unconscious ideas about what a car is and what type of role it fulfills for people.


There were three types of objects that I made for this project; survival objects, ritual objects and luxury objects. The survival objects was composed of a series of tools and weapons that would be necessary to have including a bow and arrow, knives and axes. These were important to include because one of the roles a car plays in our culture is that of an important survival object. In many places around this country, if one did not have a car it would seriously limit their ability to get to work, earn money and purchase the things they need to survive.

Connected with their use as a survival object, cars are quite often also objects of ritual. I get in mine and drive it where I have to go. Once a week I put gas in to feed it. Once every 3000 miles I change its oil and rotate its tires. There are more rituals associated with cars that help to keep the car gods appeased and your car running but mentioning them all would take too much time. Our cars are objects of ritual and as such I performed many rituals as well as produced several ritual objects including ceremonial garb, masks and musical instruments.

Cars are also objects of luxury. Stretched Limousines as well as other high end automobiles have become icons of wealth and luxury spending. The most well off of this societies members have more cars and cars of higher luxuriousness than those people with a moderate income. This being the case, it was only natural for me to use parts from the car to produce a series of luxury objects including jewelry and a throne.


When it came time to actually make these objects, I spent a lot of time looking through the parts I had brought to the studio and thinking about what they could be. I found some parts and began visualizing. I also found parts that just simply looked interesting to me in and of themselves. I believe that the making of these objects went so smoothly because I had spent so long thinking about what I wanted to make, and the overall aesthetic I was going for.

I began to see the things I wanted to make within the parts themselves. Gathering my tools I started to work on the construction of my objects beginning in June, only three months before the opening reception. During this time, my studio space was an incredible mess. The mess spread out into the rest of the studio and to my apartment. I was constantly working on something during this phase of the project.

Below are a few in progress shots of some a couple of the objects I made.

This was the hat created for the ceremonial outfit displayed in the thesis exhibit. In order to create it, I simply removed a piece of felt from the door pane and sewed a seam to produce the cone shape. It took a while of contemplating the shape of the piece of felt before I realized the best way to sew it. Once I figured it out I simply turned it inside out and sewed up the seam. It took some time, but once I was finished, the result was exactly what I was looking for.

This was a ceremonial rattle that I produced. The making of the rattle itself was the easy part. I simply removed this part from car (I believe it was part of the radiator) filled it with glass pieces from the windshield and stopped up both ends. What took the longest was the carving of all the designs on the rattle head...It took about a week of carving for 3 or 4 hours a night to get it finished.

The Burning

Photo: David Horton

The Burning was one of the most important components of I.E. ANIMUL. The physical action to be performed took the shape of a ritual that had two purposes for me. In one sense this was a simulation of ancient rituals involved with the slaying of a beast...to release its spirit and appease the gods the hunter was to burn the heart of the beast...in my case, the heart was the engine. It was necessary to burn it so that the spirit of the beast could be free and with the car gods.

This ritual was also a coming of age ritual, as this was my first slayed automobile. This being the case, it signified the end of my time in this world as a boy and ushered me into my new existence as a man. Aside from the very simulative aspects of this meaning of the ritual, there was also a quite real connotation for my coming of age interpretation. This project was the last thing I would produce as a student and as such signaled the end of my training. In the culture of my time and place, it is my belief that finishing school, getting a job and facing your responsibilities is one of the major components of being a man.

The aspects of this ritual were very complicated. Preparations had to be made involving the securing of a suitable location for the ritual, the construction of a funeral table of suitable strength to support the weight of the engine amidst a fire, the transportation and set up of both the engine and table and the collection of wood for the fire.

I owe a my thanks to two people in particular for their help in this work. Namely, David Horton and Jim Murray. David was a great help to me during the course of this entire project as well as my entire graduate career. He was the one who suggested the location and put me in contact with the property owner Jim. He also fulfilled the role of shaman and performed the blessing ceremony at the beginning of the ritual.

Without Jim's kindness and help, this ritual would likely have never happened. He not only allowed me to make use of his expansive plot of land in Southern New York but also used his tractor to hoist the engine off the tail bed of my truck, lower it onto the funeral pyre as well as the reverse of that process after the ritual was completed. Whats more, he allowed me to gather fire wood from all the downed trees in the woods on his land.

After all of the preparations had been made, I went home to get rest for the ritual that would take place the following day. As part of the ritual I had to abstain from eating solid foods the day of the burning, which I did. I showed up at around 6 in the evening, David was already there.

We got prepared and began.

My shaman (David) started by placing offerings and preparing himself for the ritual. Next, he created a sacred space around the funeral pyre. He used salt to draw a white circle around the space and placed colored candles at the north, south, east and west points of the circle. After lighting the candles and gathering his supplies he began to call to the Gods. Chanting and banging on his drum, he called out loudly asking the gods of each direction for their blessings, permission and protection during this ritual. As he called, we each turned to face the direction he was calling to. After this he lit some sage and special incenses (they smelled like nothing I had ever smelled before) and began to cleanse my aura. He used a feather to brush the smoke over my entire body and chanted. While this was happening I could sense some thing happening to me. Once it was over, I felt different. It is hard to explain how I was different, but I knew that something had changed in me.

Once the beginning ceremonies were over I lit the fire and began to burn the engine. Things started slow. for the first ten minutes it seemed as though nothing was going to happen. There was simply a fire under the engine. As time passed, I felt comfortable adding more wood to the fire to increase its size. I did this and then began giving my offerings to the fire. Every time I added more wood I gave offerings of tobacco and alcohol to the fire. I also took those same substances into my body. As I burned the brown paper bag off of my bottle of Jameson Irish Whiskey and took my first sip, I realized that warm whiskey is a lot more flavorful and doesn't burn the throat as much.

As I let the fire burn, I thought that I heard sounds from the engine. As it turns out, there were still a lot of fluids left inside. these fluids started boiling and bubbling, escaping as steam from anywhere they could. I swear that at one point I even heard the pistons kicking over. The sounds and sudden jets of steam from the engine made the scenario seem quite dangerous, more so than I had expected. Not too long later the rubber parts, plastic parts and greases that were on the engine began to catch fire. At this point the burning became quite intense. The fire raged and the engine even shifted on its pyre. Some parts were even thrown from the engine and found on the ground nearly two feet away.

After a while though, things calmed down. As all of the fluids and burnable materials were burned, the engine quieted. I felt that the spirit had probably left the heart of the beast at this point, but I had to keep burning until sun up to make sure and properly finish the ritual. The night dragged on. At one point, a rather dense fog set in and at that moment a thought went through my head. It was almost a voice saying "They are here." At the same time my shaman told me he had to go and walk across the field. Sitting there alone I began to feel scared and odd...I felt I had to get closer to the fire. As I got there I saw David coming back and felt a relief. We returned to our seats and within a minute the fog was gone. Later he told me that there was a being in the fog, he didn't know what it was but he sensed it was there.

After that it was a fairly uneventful night until the morning. As the sun began to rise, I prepared for the closing actions of the ritual. I filled a tobacco can half way with vegetable oil. I set this can on top of the coals from the fire and let it heat up. As soon as the top of it caught fire I Put water in the oil filter of the Lumina which I had tied to a long aluminum pole. From a distance I poured this water into the can of hot oil. The result was a rather large fireball that enveloped the engine. The heat from this fireball was intense. I had to fill the oil filter three times with water and pour it before the fireballs ceased.

This was the end of the ritual. A photo of this part can be seen at the top of this post.

The Butchering [The Cutting (Step Two)]

Photo: Keli Dougherty

The Cutting was without a doubt the most 'performance' like (in the traditional sense) work i created for I.E ANIMUL. By this i mean that there was an actual audience in attendance. Several people showed up to take photos of the butchering of this beast. This was most fortunate as there is a marvelous amount of photographic and video documentation of the event.

After setting up and preparing myself mentally, i climbed atop the Lumina and tried to visualize a straight line down the center of it. Once i was ready, I let the Dewalt heavy duty reciprocating saw rip into the sheet metal flesh of the car. The blade bucked and kicked as it tore its way through the metal and foam. My weight on the roof was causing it to sag and catch the blade. As I forced the blade backward it cut well enough, sending shards of twisted sheet metal everywhere, a piece of it hitting me rather close to my eye. This was my first indication that my face shield was not down...once again i was lucky.

Before long the roof was completely cut and I had to remove the trunk so that i could get to other things that needed cutting. After removing it, I realized that i probably could have done this earlier.

Photo: Keli Dougherty

Next, I decided to cut the firewall between the engine compartment and the interior of the vehicle. I originally thought that this would be very difficult but as it turns out it went quite smoothly. I then got inside the car and found the point where the firewall cut had stopped. I slipped my blade through the tight slit and pulled my trigger. The saw cut like a hot knife through butter and less then ten minutes later i had cut all along the interior to where the trunk began. It was time to stop for lunch.

Photo: Keli Dougherty

The grilled hamburgers and hot dogs played a crucial role in this work. Not only were they an important part in securing an audience for the event but they also served to place the idea of a feast into the minds of those viewers. This is important because it mimes the traditional village feast that would occur when a hunter would slay a beast.

One other role it performed was to provide me with crucial nourishment during the arduous task of cutting a car in two.

Photo: Keli Dougherty

After lunch I finished cutting through the trunk and got down to the back bumper. At this point i decided that it would be good to cut through the front sections of the frame with a cutting torch. I decided to do the cutting from outside the compartment as I thought there might be some flammable fluids and grease left in the steering column. This was indeed the case and some small spurts of flame did shoot out in the cutting.

There were a lot of fumes and black smoke being produced, and in retrospect it would have been a good idea to have a respirator. After a while I was all the way through the frame pieces and it seemed like only the back and front bumpers and a few sheets of metal were holding the car together.

After an hour of attempting to cut through the rear bumper, and its continued resistance to the saw I decided to call it a day and continue to cut the following day. At the time I believed that there was only a little left. As it turned out, I was wrong and there was still much to do.

Photo: Bernard Suchit

The next day I returned to the project. I labored to cut the rear bumper and was successful. I then sliced through the front bumper and a section of sheet metal on the front. At this point I still thought I was close, but I soon realized that I had missed something crucial. The rear suspension was still holding the car together. I missed it because i was cutting from inside the car and it seamed as though I had cut all of the way through it.

To tackle this problem, I had to use the saw to cut open a hole in the metal directly above the suspension so that I could gain access to it for the torch. Once I was able to get in there, cutting it was not a very big problem.

After that, most of the car was truly cut. I had to use bolt cutters to cut the brake line that ran across the car and a couple of thin metal rods that ran across the trunk. Finally I quickly sliced through the last piece of sheet metal at the front of the car (the only thing holding it together).

After all that, with a little help from some friends, the car pulled right in half and was truly split. This moment was a huge sigh of relief for me as it was until this point the hardest as well as the most important piece of work for the entire project. Whats more was that the inclusion of the driver's side in the final gallery exhibition was perhaps the most impressive thing in the show.

Truly it was impressive even to me that I had cut it in half. Walking in between the two pieces of the car and inspecting the parts from a different angle was incredibly interesting to me.