One day, via AIM, my good friend Sarah informed me that you can buy pig heads in Virginia Beach. So, I bought one, and decided I was going to have a mask made from it. Luckily, Sarah attends culinary school and isn’t afraid of decapitated swine. I drove to Williamsburg with a pig head in my passenger seat, and brought it to her apartment.
The flayed skin from a pig head weighs a lot more than you would think. And it’s slimy. And gross. And fucking awesome. Luckily, I have a good friend who’s all three of those things. I poached holes in the sides, and ran shoe string through them. I originally tried to prop the snout up with half of a small plastic cup, but eventually scrapped that idea.
We shot at night, which is always more fun. Davood Salek (http://davoodsalek.com) was my lighting assistant, and Terry Steel was my model. The bugs were horrendous, but I think Terry suffered the most. Something about raw flesh on his face made him a prime target.
We shot for entirely too long. I think we ended at about 2am or so. Two of the images are on this site, “Pearls Before Swine” and “Pummel Hog.”
Terry and I are both vegetarians. Horrible, horrible vegetarians.
Pummel Hog.
Pummel Hog will be on display in this years Damned show in Detroit on October 29th and 30th. I am especially excited about this show, because Marilyn Manson and HR Giger are featured artists. It’s a good feeling to be in a show with two of the people that influenced me to make violent art in the first place.