Formless
Formless is a celebration of impermanence, levity, fluidity and the freedom of ambiguity; rooted in the philosophy that labels are not necessary for something to hold value.
My titles are clues into my associations with the imagery, but I endeavor to keep them random or abstracted so they don’t affect yours.
Louis Armstrong and the Vipers was originally titled Jazz & Cannabis, but in this case it seemed fitting to give a more specific label; properly referencing the cannabis loving Black Jazz musicians who pioneered the improvisational style Jazz is known for.
“We always looked at pot as a sort of medicine; a cheap drunk and with much better thoughts than one that’s full of liquor… We called ourselves ‘Vipers’, which could be anybody from all walks of life that smoked and respected ‘gage’; that was our cute little name for marijuana.”
-Louis Armstrong
The Vipers as Black Americans were disproportionately arrested for cannabis possession. A century later this systematic discrimination has not ceased. 20% of all sales from this show will be donated to Last Prisoner Project, to support their Cannabis Clemency Initiative and Prison to Prosperity re-entry program.
Exhibiting this fall at the Bakeréé
10326 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133