Very fine people

I like to use simple things readily at hand in my work. Before computers, it was bits of color and pattern carefully or not so carefully cut from magazines (Interview was a favorite, and I still have X-ACTO-ed copies from the ’90s on my shelves) that I would compose into collages very much in pursuit of some sort of narrative abstraction.

Since becoming one with my laptop and iPhone, I have evolved my practice. Now I like to look at how innovations like cellphones and social media, as well as the internet, have not only changed the way we communicate but also established a new language (insert emoji here). But I still use what’s lying around. My video “Please Vote” began with customizing a free online spinner intended for grade-school teachers that I then shot with my old iPhone, and reshot on my monitor, and reshot again, and then edited in iMovie. Basic tools, basic elements. I made it this way because I wonder what it means when we rely on tech companies for our nearly every aspect of our work and—now, thanks to the pandemic—to educate our children. I hope to playfully remind us that we can act, not just react. We can innovate by way of making our preferences clear; we’re not just consumers. Companies work for us, remember?

And so do our politicians. All elections are important, but this one is, well , you know. So ask yourself: Are there “very fine people on both sides”? We know where we stand, and we plan to take action to help our country build toward answers, ideas, possibility, and even unity. Visit vote.org to find out how to cast your ballot in the 2020 presidential election, and then do it: Vote.