Sacrifice

It's hard to process the big things sometimes. I did this piece about ten years ago. It's in response to something that had happened eight years prior. That's when my friend Lee passed away. He was an amazing creative entity... actor, dancer, writer, singer, catalyst. He could talk anyone into trying anything. He did it with mischievous gleam in his eye and a laugh that seemed to say "This is gonna be fun, but only I know how much fun it's really gonna be".
He was the first person i personally knew who had to live with HIV. Unfortunately, he didn't get to live long. I think he made a choice that if he was going to go out, he was going down swinging. He worked so hard in that last year of his life... songs, scripts, shows and always planning for more. I think he pushed himself until he literally burned himself out.

In this piece, I'm trying to balance the beauty and tragedy of that act. The cross the figure hangs on is made from artist's materials... armature wire, old used paint brushes, typewriter parts. The figure that hangs on it has not been tied or nailed up there. Rather he's climbed up and hangs of his own free will. He's crucified and yet, he's hanging on to that act for his own dear life.

In creating the figure, I wanted the viewer to have to figure out what they're looking at. It almost looks like you're looking at exposed bone and sinew. But look at it another way, and you see a figure that is not decaying... rather, it's coming into being... climbing up on the tools and forming itself out of whatever raw materials are at hand. His face looks up at the sky, smiling, as if to ask "Did I do alright?"

And the Eye of the Universe looks down and says
"Yeah, you done good."

Sacrifice is in the collection of 
Michelle Mazurky.