Sky Saw, Control Tower, & Sky Stitcher, Tank & Valve

The Sargasso Sky, a.k.a.,  eelman Heaven

Psychic unity is a state of mind in which the individual becomes one with the other side of consciousness, where the mortal psyche is united with a perceived universal order, where the known becomes integrated with the unknowable, where chaos becomes order, where pure freedom reigns. Belief systems provide us with a methodology for achieving psychic unity. Unfortunately, many belief systems have evolved that not only unify psyches but entire societies for other than constructive ends. Cultures with different belief systems often come into conflict with each other as a result. Economically oriented conflicts are justified as God's purpose. Nations are founded under God's direction and blessing. People die in defense of their concept of the unknowable.Concepts of God and the afterlife have long been used to organize or otherwise manipulate people by providing a sense of common destiny, or invoking the threat of supernatural punishment. Since the resolution of the mortality question is one that all humans must deal with at some time, belief systems are a handy mechanism for sheep herding. By entering the corral, one becomes psychologically subject to the unpredictable consequences of human folly such as Crusades and Jihads. Control slips out of your gray matter and into oblivion. Since the spiritual blueprints from which belief systems were formed are the product of imagination, it is to the imagination that one must turn in order to achieve control and hence, freedom.
While it may not be possible to save the world, it is certainly possible to save oneself. And the power to do that must come from within. Control over one's life is an element that may be essential to psychological balance. Since control is in many ways a state of mind, balance resides in the development of a mental construct that resists manipulation by the forces of social organization. The eelman is a channel to the other side of consciousness where ideas lurk in seclusion until they manifest themselves in reality through the mind of the individual.

It's Later Than You Think is primarily a product of reflections on the unemployed experience. Here we have juxtaposed spiritual imagery with blue collar imagery in order to work out analogous relationships between religious and secular belief systems for the purpose of social commentary on materialism as religion, and to raise questions regarding modern social and cultural organization with particular regard to the declining role of basic human compassion in the present social climate. While on one level it may appear to be a negative critique of capitalism, its primary purpose is to provoke the question: What am I doing with my life? 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.

Religious operatives commonly conduct theatrical productions based on a historical drama to achieve an exaggerated emotional effect in order to gain investors. Politicians preach righteousness while propping up murderous industries and demonizing artists. This view behind the scenes de-mystifies and exposes the fragility of such human constructs. In the study of belief systems we find that they all serve the same function: to ease our anxiety over mortality and the pain of life. One is no better than the next. Thousands have come and gone. Further, they evolve and change over time. They will certainly continue to alternate. It is not surprising that a system that seems to have the power to remove us from the anxiety of life by showering us with material things would become so popular. The irony is that it also creates a hitherto unseen degree of social stress that can only be corrected by achieving a balance between the physical and spiritual needs of each individual. Unfortunately, the integration of the socio-economic system with western ideas of spirituality has placed both paradigms on the same side of the scale making balance impossible and relegating mainstream America to value fanaticism and ideological chaos. This condition may be referred to as a "crisis of belief." Faith in Industry addresses this crisis by endowing the anachronistic industrial objects with the conceptual mechanisms of faith and begins a Restoration process.

This industrial scene is designed to illuminate particular manifestations of human objectification and the powerlessness of the worker in our mass production oriented materialistic culture. The industrial ladder allows for the ascent of Joe Averageman from the ranks of the unemployed to the precarious position of industrial drone. All of his hopes and American dreams rely on the false security of a steady paycheck. Despite his quasi-awareness of his predicament, he maxes out his charge cards, gets a house note, a car note, has 2.5 kids, and buys countless objects he has little use for like the good consumer he is programmed to be. He queues like a lemming, walking the plank right up to the edge, waiting for the boom to drop. Behind Joe's tiny enslaved existence, the corporate executive has built the requisite executory devices into his industrial complex. With a hand on the reins he drives his men for all they're worth. From here he is able to control the manual tilt that lays waste to the necessary number of employees when he is done with them. This relatively slow rate of attrition may not be fast enough, however, to allow him to salvage enough surplus value from his work force to maintain his present rate of property acquisition. Therefore, he has provided an instant full tilt dump pedal switch to quickly eradicate those pesky plebeians when they become useless to him. "No company picnic this year".

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