Untitled (tie square installation), 1997
Metal, wood, tie fabric, beeswax
8.5" x 8.5" each, 66" x 99" overall

Untitled (tie square installation) is part of a series of works made with men's business clothing that was exhibited in 1998 at Haines Gallery, San Francisco. What seems at first exercises in the aesthetics of the men's clothing textiles, are projects that explore the concepts of male identity, conformity and individuality.

In this series of works, bright scraps of tie fabrics were stretched over board and then subjected to multiple layers of melted beeswax. Subsequently, I placed these squares with their semi-translucent wax surfaces into the freezer. As air bubbles, which I popped, and other imperfections in the surfaces developed, creating spontaneous "drawings" over the tie patterns below the wax. The shapes that emerged were organically abstract and often echoed the circles and florettes, common to the designs on the ties.