DISILLUSIONMENT
This particular MONUMENT (Formerly ShowBiz and Rebranded into Chuck E Cheese) has LONG been A tether to my yesteryears. it symbolized a turning point in my adolescence and was my first exposure to video games, robotics, and addiction to screened entertainment. The feeling of walking into THAT Neon kingdom full of Screams, Screens, bleeps, dings and pizza aromatics for the first time is forever embedded in my Childhood memories COUPLED WITH the privilege of HAVING celebratED my own birthday at this Mecca of MY YOUTH.
As time progressed and I found other interests alongside my peers, the desire to revisit this sacred temple of fun diminished which coincided with THE RISE OF home video game consoles. However, I was granted the opportunity TO revisit chuck e cheese sometime during my collegIATE years while visiting my hometown. I was invited to a birthday that a former babysitter and godmother to my sister was throwing for her own children. I remember THE Crescendo of AnticIpation AND SUSPENSE BUILD as My SIBLINGS AND I PARKED THE CAR AND Walked UP TO THOSE RED DOORS. EVEN AS YOUng ADULTS, we WERE BUBBLING WITH EXCITEMENT AT THE THOUGHT OF STEPPING INTO A TIME MACHINE OF NOSTALGIA. the feeling I left tHAT DAY with was something else entirely…
Years Later, After QuitTING a 10 yr Career in engineering, Traveling and living in Europe, MOVING to AND LEAVING Los Angeles, I MADE THE DECISION TO MOVE BACK TO MY HOMETOWN OF WILMINGTON. Seeing Toys R Us Shut Down across the street FROM CHUCK E CHEESE was the first signal of a disappearing era but I would continue to see MY BELOVED ChUCK E. CHEESE While driving by and Feel a Spark of WONDER Despite a lackluster experience as an adult.
Chuck E Cheese OF WILMINGTON OFFICIALLY shut down in 2020 after operating FOR 36 years (Coincidentally ShowBIZ OPENED IN TOWN THE YEAR I WAS BORN). This was ALSO WHILE I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF A CUSTODY DISPUTE WITH MY YouNG CHILD. I remember driving by aND SEEING its doors closed INDEFINITELY FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE ENTIRETY OF MY LIFE, Noticing THE empty parking lot, windows taped up, lights turned off, unlit signage I BEGAN feeling That same thing inexplicable confusion from My last visit as an adult. I believe the duty of every artist is to transmute and TRANSLATE the inexplicable into something that we as humans can perceive AND SHARE. i eventually Acted on THOSE FEELINGS and with a camera IN HAND, THE WEIRD THRIFTED MINIIE MOUSE HEAD THAT HAS TRAVELED WITH ME STUDIO TO STUDIO, and the cooperation and willingness of my friend Venus, we ventured into the night and pulled into the vacant parking lot in the late hours of a Wednesday Evening for a photoshoot.
My art practice HAS led me in many directions and mediums, but my first Pursuit as an artist was Storytelling through THE LENS OF MY CAMERA. there is something mystical about capturing light and freezing a moment in time. I was once told that I did not need to pursue video (although I have) because I was able to tell a story In a single frame. My photography has inspired Men to TRAVEL TO EXOTIC DESTINATIONS, HAS BEEN CRITIQUED IN COURTROOMS AND USED AGAINST ME, AND is coveted and displayed prominently IN THE HOMES OF my gracious collectors.
It took a lifetime for me to understand thE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS work. Although its title FOUND ME a few years ago, its meaning wasn’t clear until now.
There are some things we are meant to experience and gifted TO US in this lifetime that we will never be able to go back and relive again. While we may not always realize it, this occurs everyday in our interactions with the world around us.
This work is about that feeling, the one we CAN never get back to but will forever be etched into the fiber of our being. While the word itself may carry a negative connotation, I hope that DISILLUSIONMENT inspires its collector and all who gaze upon it to take in every moment with gratitude BEFORE IT BECOMES A MEMORY TO WHICH WE MAY NEVER RETURN.
dis·il·lu·sion·ment - /ˌdisəˈlo͞oZHənm(ə)nt/
A feeling of Disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be.
ORIGINAL BAHR III PHOTOGRAPH
16 x 20 inches - 406 x 508 mm
CUSTOM FRAME WITH 638 HAND DRAWN SIGNATURE STICK FIGURES
PRINTED ON FUJIFILM CRYSTAL ARCHIVE PAPER
No. 1 in a series of 10
OFFICIAL 1998 CHUCK E CHEESE TOKEN IN COIN SLAB SIGNED AND NUMBERED CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY
2022 - 2025
