Unpredictability...

The unpredictability of the gutskin is one of it's most appealing characteristics.  Although stretching and painting on the gutskin is interesting, I wanted to explore the medium more for what it is. Rewind and go back to the intrinsic value of it and how that can be used.

This is the latest work in progress in which I am exploiting that unpredictability. After the casing is laid out and dried, 15"X15" perfect squares are cut from the gutskin.  Using small brass nails, various cuts in the gutskin and thread sewn into certain corners of the squares, which is then used to stretch the re-moistened gutskin on a white wall, the resiliency of its surface is tested as it dries and reacts to the elements controlling its surface. The sharp angles created by the thread pulled and wrapped around the brass nails reacts to the natural buckling of the dried gutskin, which is buckled because of the tension created by the stretched thread. 

Themes investigated in this include: 

unpredictability

control

authority

stability/instability   

The manipulation of the gutskin versus its natural inclination create an acute tension that personally represents the volatility of US military life, which is reiterated by the universal implications it implies toward the tense and unpredictable state of global politics and unending war.