I PUT A SPELL ON YOU / 2007

Laser-cut hardboard
roughly 5' x 5'

This work was inspired by Screamin' Jay Hawkins, whose bizarre stage personality emerged when he recorded the original version of "I Put a Spell on You". It's been covered many times since, by artists who represent a broad sampling of musical styles and tastes.

How does something change when revisited again and again? The science of memory tells us that a memory is altered every time it is remembered; that, in fact, the "safest" memory is one not recalled at all.

This installation features 100 representations of the same digital skull (a model I produced using Rhinoceros). With the help of fellow Chicagoan Chris Reilly, I cobbled together a script that virtually rotated the skull 36 degrees on each axis before taking each picture. Each of the 100 results was output to hardboard using a laser-cutter.