Portable Sound
Portable Sound has been inspired by a culmination of the past 52 years of my life. The work represents nostalgia from my Gen X childhood (movies, activities, toys), exposure to and the patience to absorb the art of others, especially those named Thom/Tom (Thom Lessner, Tom Sachs), and skateboard/punk culture.
The fuel was Tom Sachs’ “Boombox Retrospective 1999-2022” and the spark was my now wife’s enthusiasm to park herself at the mid-point of the Portland Marathon playing Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” on repeat as she cheered on the marathoners.
This led me on an up-all-night construction of a large cardboard boombox that held her bluetooth speaker which we used the next day to entertain and support the marathon participants. Over the next few years I would create other boomboxes in pen on donut boxes, with Posca pens on skateboards and plywood, as ephemeral graffiti pieces on roadside buses and Cadillacs.
And now, after the percolating of the effort and the ideas, I’ve made these pieces in honor of humankind’s deep seeded need to connect and communicate using sound.
".. / .-.. — ...- . / -.— — ..-" - Posca pen and spray paint on canvas. Fisher-Price Skytalker Walkie Talkies circa 1983 is a tribute to Gen X nostalgia from the era of Stranger Things and the magic of staying connected to your friends before cellphones.
"Boombox 23" - Posca pen and spray paint on canvas. A vintage reel-to-reel portable tape recorder is nod to audiophile's everywhere and reminder that portable sound wasn't always small or digital.
"Whispering to the right" - Posca pen and spray paint on canvas. This classic megaphone is the tool you need for crowd control, getting the truth out to the masses, or rage shouting into the night.
“Danger Close” - - Posca pen and spray paint on canvas. In service between 1951 through the mid-1960s, this PRC-10 American military radio was inspired by the plastic army soldier with the backpack radio who, as a kid, always seemed kinda lame until you realized they were the person calling in the airstrikes.
"My First Boombox" - - Posca pen and spray paint on canvas. Before I had a real boombox and Black Flag cassette tapes, this Mattel See 'N Say was one of the first portable sound devices I ever carried around the house and annoyed my parents with.
"Mouth Breathing*" - - Posca pen and spray paint on canvas. This collection of breath-powered musical instruments are pocket portable and in the wrong mouth, guaranteed to annoy. *Whistle included.