MONSTER HOUSE

This project began as a desire to create a map of myself. I started by painting and drawing the many monsters that had been floating around in my head and that I had come to love. When I saw them existing separately, however, I knew that my map wasn't right – I wanted to create a space where all of my monsters lived together. I wanted to build them a home.

I wanted their home to be a place that others could enter and interact with. This led me to USC’s woodshop, and after explaining my goal I was allowed to build in a corner of the wood yard using free scraps. 

100+ hours later of cutting, gluing, nailing, and painting, the final result was a 10 ft tall 4ft x 4ft house. I painted the entire inside and outside of the house, and by the end I had created an interactive and individual gallery in which I was able to exhibit my monsters. 

I displayed my work in this standing gallery for a month. No two people experienced my monster house in the same way. One had to push through the cut up curtains and crawl in to enter, and once inside the light coming in through the shower curtain roof bounced around the foil and art inside. Art was all around you, and yet there was even more to see if you were willing to engage with the gallery – pulling back fabric and foil and getting on your hands and knees revealed pieces purposefully hidden from easy viewing.