I am both an artist and an outdoorsman, and my works memorialize my appreciation for outdoor activities. Above the handle on a bow I made there lies a painted banner inscribed with the phrase, “Such as we are you shall be”— a medieval statement that refers to the inevitability of death, both for the hunted and the hunter. The phrase faces me as I hold the bow, aiming, and reminds me to focus on the responsibility of taking a life. The dead component is the animal I kill, the living component is me—the archer and artificer of both death and the instrument of its delivery.
Many of my pieces formally reference medieval reliquaries, which are metal containers that hold the relic of a saint, such as a fragment of bone or an article of cloth. It is the ways in which we venerate the deceased that interests me, and within my work, I adapt this idea to indicate the presence of wild game, and my connection to these creatures through outdoor recreation. My reliquaries serve as a reminder to the significance that hunting and fishing has on directing my moral compass.
@ lucpmetals
Studio Song: Ever and a Day by AFI
