Heavenly Kings
In 1988 Capcom of Japan released a video game titled Mega Man II, a highly successful sequel to the original Mega Man game. Playing these games was a seminal experience from my youth. The plot of the video game series (if such a thing exists) revolves around the creation of robot masters, each defined by an elemental power (air, fire, wood, metal, etc.), who are turned evil and must be defeated by the humanoid robot player character of Mega Man to save the world. Upon defeat, Mega Man assumes the power of the defeated character to use on his journey. The evolving body of work Heavenly Kings is a rereading of various characters from the game through the lens of Japanese Buddhist iconography, where corollary demons or guardians are hybridized in form with the robot. The questions I have in the work are multiple, touching upon, reincarnation, redemption, the savior figure, the odyssey, magical powers, and possibilities of autonomy within a fated system. At the most base level, is a robot or demon more or less than human? An object of veneration or fear?
Among a number of oddities in the game, occasionally the main character will encounter its own enormous severed head on the game board, typically in a hard to reach place. If the player can reach and acquire it, this giant head garners an extra life for the player. Inspired by these thoughts and the head as a symbol for reincarnation, Dying to Rise from the Dead featuring a recumbent carved Mega Man head paired with a Buddhist halo was created in 2014. This initial work spurred further investigation and my 2017 research trip to Japan.
The itinerary for this travel involved visiting a number of museums and National Treasure sights for study of Buddhist statuary and temple architecture. In addition to various photographs, videos, field recordings and sketches I also traveled with an infrared 3D scanner and collected a variety of full and partial 3D files harvested from objects and structures. These various resources have led to a hybrid practice involving 3D modeling and digital collaging of the scans to create statuary and sculptural forms melding historic statuary with characters from the game. These files are then output via a 3D printer and/or a CNC router. The carvings in particular see me using the technology more as a studio assistant, roughing out forms in advance of detailed hand finish work. I am continuing to evaluate a variety of finish levels to the works, exploring the differing values of a refined surface as juxtaposed against a more “raw” surface and it’s ability to evoke aging, weathering or incompleteness.
The below images show process as well as finished pieces. Works from this series have been shown at the UT Downtown Gallery, the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, the University of Oklahoma and will feature prominently in my upcoming exhibition at the Pennsylvania College of Technology.