2011
Mixed Media
24" x 13" x 4.5"
This Icon imagines Elvis Costello as a Saint--I am a big fan, btw. This one took about a year to make. It refers to a number of Elvis songs, including "Motel Matches", "Stranger in the House", "Hoover Factory", "Poor Napoleon" and several more. Some fun facts: The rose is made from melted guitar picks. The lipsticks (Elvis' obsession with the trappings of womanhood) are cast in resin, using a mold I made from an actual vintage tube of lipstick--a tricky feat, if I do say so myself. The small portrait in the sky, over Elvis' shoulder is Lorenz Hart. In the line of great songwriters of the 20th Century, Elvis is his true successor, so he watches over Elvis, making sure those genius lyrics--smart, sad, funny, biting--keep flowing.
