In March of 2019 My home in LA went up in flames in the middle of the night. My wife and I escaped unscathed, but the damage was devastating. Books, art, clothing, furniture, photographs, camera equipment, was either destroyed or completely damaged. As challenging as it was, this period forced me to consider my own mortality, and inspired me to create this installation. During the two weeks I had to prepare for the exhibition, I was able to transform an abandoned house in the desert into a representation of my memories and experience of the fire.

I created seven Portal paintings, each representing a color of the chakras. I Used a torch to recreate a burned out portion of the wall, and had the ceiling partially removed. I built a door to the back room that was boarded up, only revealing what was inside through a peep hole. Inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s final work “Étant donnés”, I created my own version with foliage found in the desert, and a female figure sculpted in grout, foam and semi-precious stones. I titled the Installation “Happy” as the last thing remaining in my scorched house was the birthday balloons which spelled out the word. I used bright white LED lights to illuminate the space and painted the outside of the building in a gradient that represents the desert sunrise.