Discipline series: Dirt, Lead, Cement, Glass

Each head over lifesize.

The discipline series is my effort to at once preserve my son with a marble portrait of him at about one year old, and also to objectify several dangers in a toddler’s immediate environment. Lead paint and lead-contaminated dirt in our yard are represented by a lead casting of his portrait, the concrete and broken glass of city streets, by those materials. The stresses of environmental pollution and degredation take a toll on children in many obvious and subtle ways. It is difficult to explain to a young child why he can’t play in the yard dirt, can’t drink water directly from the faucet, or run down a street covered in broken glass. At the same time, I use many of these materials in my own sculpture, and must find ways to maintain my own artistic discipline