I’ve been wanting to post the recent happenings and just keep finding myself distracted from sitting down to update. Not only have I been keeping busy with the weekly contest giveaway on this site, Free Work Wednesday, but I have also been participating in more events with the wonderful people over at Big Car. They come up with some of the most creative and just plain fun events around the city and it’s usually for a greater cause such as inspiring kids to write, raising awareness to the diverse cultures that are in Indianapolis, stimulating nature park attendance, etc. and the list goes on. To stay up to date and informed about events around the city that Big Car and friends are participating in, please visit Big Car’s website.
One such event was held at the Indiana History Center last Tuesday called Jabberwocky. It was an event where the public could sample Indiana craft beers and listen to stories from brewers, bartenders, historians, and drinkers. It was presented by Storytelling Arts of Indiana and was part of the Spirit & Place Festival. There was also a special Beer Drinking Sonata performed by members of Big Car. The concept was from a book by artist Tom Marinoi entitled “Beer, Art and Philosophy. We even had the audience help with the second performance as we walked in and mingled with the crowd. It was a lot of fun and something I’m sure the audience had never seen/participated in before.
Big Car after the Beer Drinking Sonata at the Indiana History Center
(photo by Big Car)
I also recently submitted a piece to my first zine ever. I don’t really know many people in the zine culture but it is something that I always appreciated from afar. My friend Danielle gave me a heads up on a call for submissions for Rebel Doll #2 created by Miss Jane. Luckily, she let my piece in issue #2 and of course I’m stoked. You should check out the website for instructions on how to get one. She is also putting them around town at different shops and venues so keep your eyes on the lookout! Thanks again Miss Jane!
Cover of Rebel Doll #2 zine
“Monkey Claire” original “Monkey Claire” monochrome
“Monkey Claire” in Rebel Doll #2 zine
I was also lucky enough to be a part of “The Chicken Show” at the Wheeler Arts Community. “The Chicken Show” was a chicken themed art and poetry show. There were also live chickens there as well as journalist, humorist and author Michael Perry who gave a readings from his books “Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg”, “Population 485″, and others. It was a wonderful and entertaining reading. Michael is a great story teller who made me laugh out loud on numerous occasions.
When I was offered to be a part of “The Chicken Show” it was right around the time the photos of mechanically separated chicken were circulating around the internet. I have also watched my fair share of documentaries portraying the horrible living conditions of most chickens that pass through the industry food system. The umbrella “chicken” was a big one but I knew I wanted to address these specific issues because I believe in animal rights, ethical treatment of animals, food safety, etc. etc. etc.
I started out with wanting to portray in my own way, through collage, the inhumane living conditions in the chicken rearing sheds. Even chickens who are “cage free” still walk over there dead friends, piles of feces, and never see daylight. I recall seeing a particular chicken farmer on Food Inc. who had the older style rearing sheds with the screens for walls so the chickens could get nice fresh air and also enjoy what every living creature needs to be happy, sunlight. Unfortunately for her, the company who she raised chickens for wanted her to upgrade to fully enclosed shelters. She refused and was ultimately shut down for not complying. So I chose to place the paper chickens on top of each other just as they are in the rearing sheds. After covering the entire canvas with approx. 700+ hand cut paper chickens, I painted over most of them in darkness to allude the lack of sunlight the animals see throughout their life.
“Which came first: the mechanically separated chicken or the nugget?”
Not stopping there, I chose Glaser’s I Love New York image as a reference for my piece. I thought to myself, what’s more symbolic of America’s pop culture than the I Love New York design and chicken nuggets? I’m sure you can think of a few others, but that’s not the point. So instead of I (heart) NY, I chose I (heart) CN – chicken nuggets. We do. We love chicken nuggets. I replaced the traditional red heart with a pink goo filled one. That pink goo representing mechanically separated chicken. I then made the pristine white letters look dirty just like the once clean, white feathers of the chickens that are quickly soiled in their rearing sheds.
Think about how many chicken nuggets are consumed in the United States alone each year. Now think about how many you’ve eaten. Now wonder how many consisted of mechanically separated chicken. I’m sure we’ve all eaten it at one time or another without knowing. Luckily, the FDA now enforces the disclosure of the use of mechanically separated chicken in food products. Go and test it out. Slim Jims, bologna, really cheap ‘lunch meat’, some pepperoni, etc. is all made with mechanically separated chicken. You know the leftovers. The pink puree of eyeballs, tendons, and organs.
One breed. One shape. One taste.
Why aren’t my nuggets pink you might ask? Well, you wouldn’t eat pink chicken nuggets first of all. Second of all, because this pink goo is crawling with bacteria it is given an ammonium bath. No more bacteria. MMMM, ammonium. Now it tastes awful because of the ammonium so it’s injected with artificial flavoring to mask the taste. They are still pink so then the nuggets are injected with artificial flavoring. See. All better. Delicious 99 cent nuggets.
“Which came first: the mechanically separated chicken or the nugget?” – collage, ink, spray paint, shellac, oil paint, caulking, glue on canvas mounted on hand built poplar frame – 26″ x 30″ – 2010
I know many of you are probably wanting me to stop preaching. For those of you who are unfortunate enough to know me personally, you know that I am very passionate. I try to make most of my art around humor but sometimes serious issues and my world views do creep in. It is inevitable. I usually don’t have deep, thought provoking concepts that I start with when creating a piece. The concept usually comes afterward as a pleasant realization. I apologize for the novel but I felt it was important to try to explain what this latest piece means to me and why I created it. I didn’t think I would make a piece about chickens but thanks to Kevin I know have one.
It has been a super busy past couple of weeks and I’m sure I have forgotten something. If I remember I will post something about it later. Thanks again for tuning in and don’t forget to spread the word!
