In 2003, I began the Crack Molecule while I was creating a line of handbags made from surfboard resin. After pouring the panels of the bag, I usually had leftover resin that I would discard. One day, I had just finished a new line and was walking around the studio with a container of left over resin wondering what could I resin and how this might translate into one of the pieces I was working on.
"Crackmolecule" 13 x 3 x 7 in (33 x 8 x 18 cm) Acrylic ink, surfboard resin, on canvas started in 2003 10 Limited edition of prints each new layer available printed on fujiflex.
At the time, I was fascinated with things that keep us obsessed, and the word “crack-head” kept coming to mind. People use ‘crack’ to describe things like bacon, candy, shopping, sex, movies, all things people can be addicted to like ‘crack’, signaling a strong addiction to whatever it is they are addicted to.
Art is similar to crack for me and I am addicted to the process and the struggle.
I started the Crack Molecule to represent a passion that would not end until I did. Living is brief. How does one capture this brief moment spent on earth? In my twenties, I was hermetically private about my artwork. It was not so much a fear keeping me from putting myself out there, as it was total and utter disgust for what I was seeing which was the, ‘adulting’ process of a young man. It was this unease that kept me going, a sense of purpose maybe, even if no one saw this purpose, I saw purpose as a passion.
The Crack Molecule represents this passion, this persistence, this unwavering addiction, the addiction to creating a symbol, gesture, composition that gets all the meaning I give it. This creation in turn takes a small piece of my life, time, and soul. What I take from it is a giant sigh of relief and sense of accomplishment, the thirst has been quenched for the time being, but just like the Crack Molecule, their is another layer coming, another thirst to be quenched, another end in itself.
I would like to think of the Crack Molecule as infinite, but I will die and at some point, and then it will be finished, hopefully adding some light to the notion of being thoroughly intrinsically motivated and driven. The Crack Molecule is constantly changing and is constantly getting heavier and thicker as the resin grows with each new coat. The idea was to create a piece that is always in progress. This constant state of movement is pertinent to my work as an artist. I believe it is what it does, and work is an act that transcends the idea. The idea is nothing without the act. So this constant state of work acts as a buffer between the present and my next project, always linking me to the next idea through the act of creating.
This piece is the starting point for a lot of my work. It is the gateway into the addict’s mind. The addiction that never ends, it continues building on itself, manifesting in different forms, spaces and directions. The Crack Molecule is a painting on canvas, secured through 186.5 layers of resin and counting.