Barricade

2020

carved 2×4

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When my previous roommates and I arrived at our new-old apartment in Logan Square, we noticed the protruding hooks on either side of our back door, but nothing to block them. A glance in our pantry, immediately next to the door, revealed an ill-fitting two-by-four; it was too tight and would scrape the paint. Ugly and splintering, it boasted wayward streaks of paint and seemed extraneous above the two locks on the door.

Well, we used it anyway, in addition to the two locks, one of which failed by the end of our lease (or maybe it never worked in the first place?). After a while, it seemed like something should be done about the ugly barricade.

I chose to carve it entirely by hand. The process –completed in my bedroom studio–was satisfying and somewhat therapeutic. I left the ends largely untouched, to show its transformation.

I have touched this piece more than any other single piece of art I’ve made, having opened and closed it nearly every day for two years. That feels significant somehow.