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Patent 3371930 (2/10)

Digital & Analog Collage, 12"x12", $300This piece examines the tools used by police during the Stonewall Uprising. The left box contains technical illustrations from the U.S. Patent & Trade Office, which is located near the artist's residence in Alexandria. The illustration is a negative of the original patent drawing of a 1965 patent application. This is the telescopic, extensible baton used by police against bar patrons at Stonewall Inn Tavern on July 28, 1969. The artist carved into the image with a palette knife creating white lines in the negative image. The magnifying glass shapes indicate the areas that extend out from the main shaft of the weapon. (Note how the baton looks similar to a drag queen's makeup: an eyeliner container/applier, a lipstick container, etc.)

The fractal arc on the right is formed with the date of the Uprising (July 28, 1969) used as numerical variables in a fractal equation. The artist felt this shape was similar to the sweep of a baton.

Note the teal flecked blood spatter pattern leading from bottom left corner upward to the right center of the digital portion of the piece.

Text is a section of Maya Angelou's poem, Still I Rise.

The piece evokes a tangible, tactile reminder of the physical violence and its historical correlation to societal change.