Hunk Tower (21" x 17") digital print, August, 2001
The WWII Observation Towers on Cape Henlopen in Delaware, and a photo of a young hunk I saw on the Internet inspired “Hunk Tower.” The image of the hunk - truncated, made transparent and altered in other ways - inhabits the phallic symbol that is the tower. The print is part of a series of prints that were exhibited in a one-man show at The Blue Moon Restaurant in September of 2001. Because I had designated my photos of the two towers on North Shore as Tower #1 and #2 for the convenience of titling the artworks, and because I had put airplanes into most of the prints, many viewers interpreted the print series as being prescient. The fact that I made red blobs that looked like drops of blood in the prints probably didn't help matters much either. I, of course, being modest, and doubting that I had done any such thing said over and over again, “I had no thought of New York City the Trade Center Towers, and/or September 11th in mind when I made the Tower Series.” I would add that I put the planes in the images because, reclining on my beach towel, I often saw planes flying above Rehoboth Beach on rout between Boston, New York and other megalopolis cities as well as Miami and cities well to the south. Never the less, distancing myself from possible clairvoyance didn't help, and I sold quite a few of the prints. As part of that show there were also many over-sized pastel paintings of the towers based on my tower numbering system. These huge pastels showed the WWII Observation Towers under different weather conditions. They sold like hotcakes as well - which was amazing because they were the most expensive pastels I've sold to date. That show was probably more successful than any show I've had or taken part in since due in no small part to an accident of history and nomenclature.
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