The Street Stuff Series is composed of a sequence of ceramic mixed-media installations based on my international travel and research. The language of symbols on street signs has a commonality of meaning for caution or danger that transcends written language. Around the world, yellow, black, and orange typically signify danger or caution.
The Street Stuff Series began in Hong Kong, where I frequently saw construction sites with bamboo scaffolds reaching up dozens of stories; at one such site, I saw a bundle of bamboo with one piece wrapped in black and yellow caution tape. In the first work in the series, “Street Stuff-Bamboo,” I thus hand-built a similar ceramic bamboo installation with one piece of bamboo realistically painted with yellow and black caution tape.
In my next work, “Street Stuff-Caution Tape,” the yellow and black caution tape took on a life of its own; I made three variations of a small ceramic coil of caution tape painted yellow and black, each placed on a gray plaque. Two of these pieces are in the Taipei Museum of XXX and the Hawaiian Museum of XXX, respectively.
The final installation in the series, “Street Stuff-BUMP,” consists of six life-size street signs: Five yellow and black curve signs leading to a final orange sign with the black text “BUMP”. Such signs and symbols may be interpreted with meaning that is visually comprehensible and speaks to people in a universal language.
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