Should I continue this path, which I feel is simply an act of treading water in the deep blue sea, or should I decide to remove the mask of Mr. Stigma … man of quote “war and disorder” and reveal the true me? This last decade of rummaging through life, deciding how to reintegrate post military service … I realized; I was facing an uphill battle that I believe is over and am now staring in the face. I wanted to create a Pate de Verre work that portrayed what I thought people see me as, especially those who personally tried to break me. Is this what they see? A man who became this monster instead of me, half this, half that, who would love or trust someone so dangerous as he? … a threat to the society … Mr. Stigma the man now made of vanity, chaos, and destruction … a soldier with, PTS, d … well, that is at least what they are saying about me.
Glass has led me to discover things about myself and take control in a new way. This Pate de Verre work is a raw and realistic sculpture created from blue painters’ tape, the army extreme cold weather mask, the army combat shirt, copper, and powder coated steel. The penetrating spikes atop the head are bold reminders about the twenty-two Americans that die each day from suicide. These cuts received along the way, the ones that sliced into your flesh… feeling the pain that pierces through the body, after all these exasperating years. These things I found route direct subways, leading you down a long Mental Health journey, one that will mask your senses, alter your belief of reality, even lend a feeling of tears shed in blood … but first, before ending with a self-destructive path, try removing any of those labels known as the monster mask.
