Neo-Mache' Art/ Utopia Arts

Paper, paper, paper, why do I create out of paper? What makes this flat, linear piece of material so difficult, so intriguing? It’s the challenge I guess. Some of my friends and family tell me that I just like to live life hard. I would respond, “No, life simply likes to make it hard for me to live.” As a child I use to play with GI Joe action figures; however, when I finished I would often times leave them out. My parents, tired of stepping on, and tripping over my toys threatened to throw them away. In my attempt to test their limits I left my play pals out one last time. The following day they were given to a more appreciative child in the neighborhood. Saddened by my loss I would often times lie in bed and visualized how I could recreate my action figures. I came up with using the most economical and often times overlooked resources available, paper and glue. When I took on the task to create a human, realistic form out of such a medium it was rather rudimentary in its concept. The use of a series of cylinders was my response. It was like a record of my perception of the GI Joe image from the perspective of an 11 year old boy.
I really didn’t know where I would take it or where it would guide me. I just wanted to make action figures to amuse myself during play. As I became a student of the arts my technique became more sophisticated and the desire to express my work through refined shapes and imagery became my goal.
The Neo-Mache’ Sculptures that I create are in direct response to the affect that my ancestral spirituality had/have on my father (who was a wood carver), me and the influence that it will ultimately have on my off-spring. Due to certain historical events I am unable to pin-point exactly where this artistic linage came from but I communicate with my ancestors on various levels and for numerous things. It is through them that the allurement of Ancient Kemet, Dogon, Yoruba and other ancient ancestral cultures coalescing with elements of contemporary art that inspire me to construct in this particular arrangement. Just as the Dogon culture has unexplained astrological knowledge of the universe without ever having viewed it through a telescope, a variation of that spirituality is evident in portions of my work in spite of the fact that I had never researched their culture or have been taught it at any level of my education. I simply cannot explain it in words; it’s more of an ancestral spiritual thing with me. I would gage that my motivation to create is usually sparked by current events and the research of the times that affect and continue to have an impact on my community. Once I sit or lie down and speak to my ancestors I receive visions of images. These images are translated into the process that it takes to create Neo-Mache’ Art.
Neo-Mache’ sculptures are comprised by the employment of several derivatives of recycled paper which are cut, spliced, shredded, burned out and molded with cylinders and cones being its foundation. At present, I am exploring lessening the refinement of allegorical imagery in my work with the manipulation of contrasting elements by impacting its surfaces through positive and negative spaces, smooth versus grainy, local colors versus complex colors and the modification of its overall form with abstract shapes versus more distinguished shapes.
In my lifetime I have witnessed a host of events that have had a profound impact on me, the African American community and the world has a whole. It is through these events that prompt me to consult my ancestors for spiritual guidance in virtually every aspect of my life.