Duck Tape

2018

Acrylic on canvas

30” x 36” (76.2cm x 91.44cm)

The universal solution to nearly any broken object be it a door, a chair or finger is Duct tape. It’s not entirely true, but nearly anything can be temporarily fixed with some skillfully applied grey tape.

As a child, I remember fixing and making things with Duct Tape. Now my own kids are following my footsteps by not only making things with it but adding it to their Christmas lists for Santa to put in their stockings. But, they don’t know how good they have it with the endless array of colors at their disposal. I could have any color I wanted as long as it was grey.

My kids are young, and like most people, they never pronounce the “t” in “duct” so it sounds like “duck tape”. The idea of making a duck out the stuff struck me as funny and painting it in such a way as to give the illusion of it being actual tape adds to the playfulness of the piece.

The bright yellow background with a detailed painting of the strategically bent, twisted, and stuck tape creates a very simple image with a level of complexity that takes the piece beyond the minimalistic work that at first glance it appears to be.