Fried Gold and Patent Portraits

“Co: Modify” Culture Laboratory Collective @ Nave Museum, Victoria, TX
Dec 8, 2011 -Jan 22, 2012

2 new series developed for “Co: Modify” based on the theme of “commodification as a form of validation of life concepts.”

Part I:

“Fried Gold: Best Idea Ever“
battered and deep fried gold plated necklaces [2011]

Anything can be made better by deep-frying it.

And nothing is better than gold.

Taking a decidedly “State Fair” approach to increasing the value of gold, the piece considers the nature of wealth as a commodity to be digested. And our efforts to increase that consumption.

Part II:

“U.S. Portriats: Patents” (series of 9)

legal U.S. Patents, statistics printed on Arches [2011]

The number of patents filed is often used as an indication of intelligence, creativity, and growth for a nation. Filing a patent may cost from $1,200- $7,000. So, in reality, the number of patents filed may have more to do with the affluence of a nation rather than it’s intelligence.

Here are a series of 9 legal US patents that I found, each overlaid with United States statistics that relate to the patent, often in a derisive or humorous way.