These Untitled tattoed leaves were begun while pondering the new technology of the Internet and popular chatrooms in the 1990's.  On the screen, one could see the organic movements of people move from one group to another, similar to group the flight patterns of birds. In time, I started collecting ciphers, these anonymous names that had a poetic resonance.  Recombined, the names speak to each other in their longing. I then scored or pricked the names on large leaves from a rubber plant tree and applied ink. While still green and alive, the vascular nature of the leaves took in the ink and imprinted these names and flight patterns leaving a trace, reminding us of ephemerality, mortality, and and our eventual disintegration.

Untitled
Tattoed rubber tree leaf with reddish brown ink
14"x9"
boyofthenight
nebulaboi
heatseeker23
what_if
Untitled (detail
2004
Tattoed rubber plant leaf, brown ink
Untitled
2004
Tattoed rubber plant leaf, brown ink
11" x 9"
Bodhi Leaf mandala
2007
Tattoed bodhi leaf, brown ink
9"x4"