It’s been a week since the opening of my first solo show in a gallery setting. The energy spent on creating it during the same time as living with the guy’s parents in West Jordan (25 minute drive from the studio I work in) until moving into our first real adult home (post to follow!) a week prior, burnt me nearly to a crisp. The goal was to cut 204 birds but only made it to 114 before time ran out. I am surprisingly happy with the results though. The challenge I had for myself, beside the large 6 point Rocky Mountain elk, was to take the largest wall in the gallery and fill it solely of birds. I still had a handful left to spread throughout the room as well as with humor add to Stolen & Escaped Gallery‘s hand painted logo. I giggle each time I look at my new screenprint, “Horny Utah Dudes,” (right) where a Big Horn Sheep is standing on a Deer standing on a Moose standing on an elk standing on a Buffalo. I kind of had an epiphany while sketching of how similar my marks can be as when I carve wood. You see, I don’t think I can draw very well. Carving wood seems easier for me to achieve realistic imagery. But that might change as I really enjoyed how it turned out and want to explore it more. I almost didn’t show Birds, Bees & Hunger (left) as I was super unhappy with how the yellow ink from the canary birds sat against the tan paper. It was really harsh on the eyes and the paper felt empty. I usually really love negative space, but there was nothing to love about the print until I experimented with bleach. I used straight bleach, a paint brush, a fan and an open window to discolor the paper and make more interesting results. Then the elks. I didn’t think they were possible when I measured them then I jumped over joy when I thought more about cutting the block in half such as Mary’s Grizzly Bear. I didn’t want the same obvious line through the body, but finally I got smart and realized the divide could be at the antlers. If you look super close, you can see they are separate on pieces of paper from the body.

The title Horny, might just seem like a really fun pun – especially when you make cracks about wood and such. But really there is more to it and I haven’t gotten a chance to talk about it until now. I created the idea about 6 months ago. The idea was that no one would get it and that’s how I want it to be. No one would get that the two beautiful elk who are looking at each other are men. They are looking at each other like they are meant to be together and yes, I am implying that they are gay. But the funny thing is, no one thought about it like that during the opening. At least not openly. They just saw the beauty in the creatures and admired them for what they are. Elk. Male. Strong. Large. Bold. Beautiful. And that’s how I want the world to work. Everyone is beautiful and everyone is admired and never is orientation in the picture. The red chested Robin Birds are swarming to the elk in support and protection. They are the eyes on the ground.

So this is my way to have fun with support of Gay Rights without being Gay Rightsy. Because all in all, I just want it to be Right.

Horny is on display until January 13th and is located in the basement of Frosty Darling (177 East Broadway) Tuesday-Saturday 12pm to 6pm. Purchases can be arranged with gallery owner Amanda Hurtado at stolenandescaped@gmail.com.

Tags birds elk gay rights horny red robin Rocky Mountain Elk screenprint Stolen & Escaped Gallery wood woodcut