Utica is famous for its mental health institution, formerly known as the New York State Lunatic Asylum. For reasons that remain opaque this is not advertised well by Sculpture Space. Nevertheless the building - with the largest Corinthian columns in North America - has quite a presence and looms large on the social landscape there. My initial idea was to make a Utica Crib, a well documented restraining device to enable physically agressive patients to sleep without movement. However the idea expanded to incorporate the US national flag along side the eastern mystical "Bed of Nails" as an experimental mixing of visual metaphors - clearly influenced by the mental health created by the current foreign and domestic political agenda of the USA.

USA Flag

Untitled # 121

Untitled # 122

Signs Project