So this is something that’s been sitting around, half done, for —let’s just say 2 years.  It’s probably more than that.  At the time when  I made the image itself I was experimenting with CMYK images –how to break an image down in photoshop into the 4 channels and prepare them for eventual screenprinting.  I was also then dabbling with image transfer techniques –I also had a lot of film (transparency film for burning screens, which I had quit using since I had gone to the veg. oil and photocopy technique of making films) and a lot of glass (cuz I was framing a lot of artwork).  I had other interpretations of this image, just nothing that really worked so far.  So it was in the spirit of “lets just see what happens” that I made this verson.  There are two films sandwiched together on top of glass.  One film is the Magenta and Black channels, which depict an old (and common) image of Death, coming out of the grave.  The other film, done in the yellow and cyan, depict a common image of Jon Benet Ramsey in full child beauty queen regalia.  Those who don’t know who she is, look her up.  I’ll let you come up with your own interpretation of why the two have been combined, though I think it’s obvious.  Anyways, after putting the glass together and putting it into a frame, I put it away until just this month.  I think it was more about trying out something than coming up with a finished piece, and when i got to that point I guess I was stumped.  Without it being in a window, or some light source behind it, it was too dark.  So it got put away and forgotten about, mostly.

This coming month there is a group show that I thought this would be perfect for, so I got it back down and thought about how to make it work better.  2 weeks thinking of “how do I create a lightbox that’ll work, look decent, but still be temporary in case the viewer/owner wants to put it into a window”.  Then I said, this thinking isn’t getting me anywhere, lets just build it and figure it out as I go.  This is the result.  The light box is made up of scrap wood, a piece of semi-opaque acrylic, and a 26 ft. string of LED lights woven behind the acrylic, powered by batteries.  The LEDs run cool enough to where they won’t cause any problems with the glass or plastic films, the battery pack solves any problem I would’ve had with wiring, and is cheaper and as effective as flourescent lighting.  The simple box framing is held onto the frame by  4 screws, so it’s easy to take apart and hang without the lightbox, though now I’m a big fan of the lightbox, which had been put together in under a day.  Part of me says “why didn’t you do this sooner?”, but most of me says “Good work Larry –Good work and in due time.”