The heads on pickets represent the poor miserable unemployed souls that have been cast out of society:               

the insane, the infirm, the elderly, the street people; all devils to a society that worships boundless productivity and growth.

The hopeful angels stand on the outside posts, the fringe of society where advocates of the poor reside.

They are hoping for a state of social equality that will raise the miserable outcasts up from their status as victims of human objectification;

valueless products of the capitalist machine which churns along, self-driven by its own momentum.

The posts are screw shaped to symbolize the churning of life under the clock of linear time.

They direct all focus toward the holy arch, passageway to a socially acceptable existence in the mainstream of gainfully employed individuals.

Outside of the arch, on the handrails, two cats rest as symbols of independence.

Without collars or chains, they live by their wits and do as they please,

feeling no need to venture through the arch and into the forsaken land.

The screaming angels are the final sirens of warning placed at the entrance to the employed realm.

They tell of the imminent disconnection from the self that often is required to succeed in the competitive environment of the commodified labor world.

This disconnection is the social equivalent of selling one's soul to the devil.

On top of the holy arch, the vultures wait.

At the pinnacle of the social hierarchy they feed on the carrion of those unable to function within the parameters of the system.

They place the heads on the poles as a warning to those unwilling to play their game.

The system is not perfect, however, and an economic downturn results in the stagnation of production and growth.

Hence, the wheels of industry are static.

Now, with the failure of this social organization to include a functional percentage of its members (the fence pickets are full),

it becomes necessary to call on traditional values in the form of supernatural forces in order to remedy the problem before anarchy sets in.

     Jesus to the rescue.

Seven unemployed Jesus's line up to pray for the wheels of industry to turn again.

Seven are used to symbolize the luck required when depending on prayer.

They also represent politicians that preach economic salvation under their policies.

While all of this may appear to be a vision of doom and gloom, for me it is really a celebration of life.

After many years trapped in the prison of gainful employment,

like the miserable souls crammed into the holy arch along with the means of production that they do not own,

I was rendered unemployed.

This gave me the time and opportunity to focus on what I really wanted to do.

It made me more aware of how precious our brief period of physical existence really is.

In this context, the gears represent elements of a clock mechanism.

The plumb bob functions as an elegant weight, driving the clock that measures this precious time,

which is frozen here in this sculptural snapshot.

Nevertheless, time moves on, limiting what we can make of our lives.

The posts that hold up the lintel are designed to resemble a pencil and paintbrush,

as art is a basic foundation of humanity and civilization.