Lately I've been wrapping my head around a lot of MATH.
I will admit it's not my strong suit but fortunately I've got a strong logical streak as back up; so between my dim recollection of geometry (and fractional and exponential math) and the vague intuition of "well, crap, that doesn't look right" I've been able to muddle my way through it. I wish I had a TARDIS so I could kick whoever told me that artists don't need math right in the shins. Just once. That'd be enough.
ANYWAY, so the reason for all of this is because I need the data and the math to help me be accurate in my next two pieces. They are both politically charged in nature without being overtly so, and I need to get shit right.
One, called "Make It Rain", will be a combination of crystal and glass beads and bullets suspended from a stand-alone frame that viewers will walk through. It sounds really simplistic at the moment but I assure you there's more to it. The few tests I'd done of it have me really excited to go full-bore on it. I should mention it's 8 ft tall and 10-12 feet long (sigh. I still need to do that math) and 42" wide so that folk who use wheelchairs will be able to enjoy the work, too. I should also mention I have no idea where I'm going to show it but it's still important for me to build it, as it will touch directly onto the national dialog surrounding gun violence.
The second piece, called "Relative Attention" is an examination of the relationship between the death tolls of various groups, starting at 9/11 victims, then US military deaths, then US military non-fatal casualties, then the estimated (because there are no concrete numbers) death and casualty count of Iraq, Afghan and Pakistani civilians. This one has been a heavy one to research, and a heavy one to conceptualize. While the relative scales are remaining fixed, the overall scale is malleable given the materials I'm working with - it's almost too much design choice without constraints, so I am actually a little glad to have a 72", 100lb size restraint to submit it to one show I've got my eye on. The great thing about this one is that it's changeable, and I can revamp it and alter the way it's presented based on the space I'm given, so that's exciting, too.
These large-scale pieces can be intimidating, but I just need to remember it's like eating an elephant: One bite at a time.
Watch this space for updates and more details about these works, and let me know if there's any specific questions you may have about them.