arloconsuelo - CRIME! + BOLLOCKS

Original Artist Statement, 8.5x11, OHP, Cyanotype

CRIME!, approx. 42x28, Archival Inkjet Print on Corrugated Board

BOLLOCKS, approx. 42x28, Archival Inkjet Print on Corrugated Board

DUCKPLANT, 14x19, Acrylic

BOMB, 14x20, Archival Inkjet Print

HATE, 22x30, Archival Inkjet Print, Paint Marker

GOLD, 22x30, Archival Inkjet Print, Paint Marker

THEY WONT LEAVE ME ALONE, 9x12, Tape-Exposed Cyanotype, Bleached and Toned

SH*T PRINT, 9x14, Archival Inkjet Print, Construction Paper, Paint Marker

CHAOS 1, 7x10, Archival Inkjet Print, Paint Marker, Twine, Tape

CHAOS 2, 7x10, Archival Inkjet Print, Paint Marker, Construction Paper, Tape

VICES 1, 7x10, Archival Inkjet Print, Paint Marker, Tape

VICES 2, 7x10, Archival Inkjet Print, Paint Marker

TRIPTYCH 1, 3x 7x10, Archival Inkjet Print, Paint Marker

TRIPTYCH 2, 3x 7x10, Archival Inkjet Print

CRIME! + BOLLOCKS FIRST SHOW POSTER, 8.5x11

I was sitting in class one day when I just jumped into photoshop and started taking little pieces of peoples’ faces from photos I just had on my computer, and I started stitching them together to create a new face. I kept editing until I had created an amalgamate face, and then for the finishing touch, I took the brush tool and wrote “BOLLOCKS” across the front of it. This was my way of saying, “I understand that this entire project is ‘bullshit’ and I’m not going to make any sort of attempt to hide it, so I am going to put it right in front of you.” I printed Bollocks out as large as I could and mounted it to cardboard and cut it out, becoming one of the two “bigheads”.

I then decided that Bollocks needed a friend, and created another one of these “bigheads”, this time writing “CRIME!” over the front of it. As I was creating this one, I thought it would be fun to start hiding little notes in the black spaces to reward viewers who pay more attention to smaller details. I did not have much idea on what to write so I just started writing whatever came to mind, and I quickly realized that the little notes I was leaving were referential to my experience with sexual assault and the trauma and fallout that came with it. At first, I was horrified because I was starting to assign meaning to the work, but instead of running from it, I allowed it to happen. I spread out all of my work in front of me and realized that a lot of the decisions I had been making had also been in reference to this trauma, and I realized that this entire time, I had been creating a work that was, in its own chaotic way, about sexual assault.

-an excerpt from my thesis

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