FANTASTIC IMAGINARY USE

Throughout history, humans have used tools to interact with others; in consensual relationships, in harnessing animals, in trying to commune with whatever god. My interest lies in the manner with which we use these tools, imbue them with meaning, and rely upon them, both spiritually and physically.

Societies instill beliefs and behaviors into their members through systems of punishment and reward. This pleasure/pain dynamic is reinforced throughout the lives of individuals, touching all manner of relationships: with people, with animals, and even with our gods. Religious teachings have driven some pious followers even to punish themselves as a means of penance, while others utilize self-flagellation to release guilt and re-establish a sense of self-control and power over their own

bodies. It is these relationships – ones which are compelled by desire – that set guiding principles allowing for the sensorial control of pain and pleasure, especially those intentionally sought for their capacity to evolve into sexual feelings of euphoria and ecstasy.

In this series of sculptures, I alter tools originally designed to control or modify animal behavior – by inhibiting the senses or inducing pain – and give them a fantastical new imaginary use. What originally had been made to facilitate a dominant and submissive human–animal dynamic are transformed to facilitate the human–human or human–self relationship, or even a human–god relationship, through the fetishization and glorification of the objects.