Making New Friends


	"Making New Friends"

	hooded sweatshirt, wood, sinew, bottle caps, metal studs, silkscreen on canvas, hair, dirt, bicycle inner tubes (2005)

	The design signifiers and faux-tribal decorations in this sculpture are emblematic of the ways in which different elements of young American sub-cultures relate to and identify each other as potential peers and allies. Even in subcultural niches which rebuke the common styles of popular culture, attention is given to utilizing apparel and adornments which express allegiances, inclinations and histories. Here, a time-worn and soiled black hooded sweatshirt is crudely stretched across a wooden frame like an animal hide. The frame is adorned with beer-bottle caps, metal studs and trimmings of colored and knotted hair - the jacket itself is decorated with sewn on patches screenprinted with USGS satellite images of each of the neighborhoods I have lived in throughout my life thus far.



						above: installation view, 2005 below and left: details of patches with satellite images