Cuttin' My Teeth

Concrete and found objects
26” x 18” x 3”
2013

I built this wall-hung piece out of cast concrete, incorporating an antique pistol held in a cast of my young daughter's hand, and a Volkswagen fan belt cover I took from my ex-wife's boyfriend, a man I held no small amount of disdain for at the time. Pressed into the concrete is the Chevrolet emblem with the word "TEETH," painted in matching  Chevrolet font style; below, my own hands are cast into the piece alongside a set of my teeth impressions. I made this one in a fury, after an art collector who'd promised to buy the finished work simply refused to pay once it was done. The title is about what it actually means to cut your teeth as an artist—not the romantic version, but the real one, where doing something respectable and even beautiful offers you no shelter at all from other people's bad faith.