Monday, April 13, 2009

Running Slowly

The dodo: a fleeting presence on this planet, but apparently not very fleet of foot.

According to my trusty 1878 Chambers's Encyclopedia of Universal Knowledge, "The birds were easily killed, being wholly unable to fly, and running slowly. Their speedy extinction after the islands began to be visited and settled, is thus easily accounted for."

Maybe it was the shoes?

Acrylic on text & map of Mauritius, 4x5"

Friday, April 3, 2009

Victor's Victim

Acrylic on text (definitions of victim & victor from an old dictionary) on Victor brand rat trap.

We actually bought the trap late last Summer when hordes of enormous rats invaded our neighborhood (after the closing of the local pizza place & consequent dearth of dumpster delights).

I just couldn't bring myself to use it for its intended purpose. I thought about live traps, but then what??? So I quit composting food scraps instead... it seemed to discourage them, at least temporarily... but they're seasonal, right? (Squirm...)

Anyway, one day as I was contemplating the trap & wondering if I was a hopeless softy, I realized what I really wanted to do with it.