Finding Balance - retro-palm-springs-handstand Collage

This piece is from my ongoing series about finding balance. It was created with a photo transfer of an original snapshot of a man doing a handstand on the beach over a base collage of vintage paper and paint. The piece is finished with a thin layer of resin coated with matte varnish. The surface has an appearance similar to encaustic wax. I have had a relationship to the handstand from an early age. As a young boy I have vivid memories of my neighbor walking on his hands from one end of his expansive yard to the other. I was mesmerized and impressed by this display of physical mastery and endurance as the neighborhood kids cheered him on. In elementary school I was involved in gymnastics and was chosen to demonstrate a handstand for the physical education bulletin board outside the gymnasium. The gym teacher captured my handstand in profile using a Polaroid camera. It depicted the slight bend in my back and street clothes consisting of untucked shirttails and black hightop Reeboks with dangling purple laces. As a child I felt like somewhat of a celebrity having my name and image on the board and found a way to pass by the photo several times a day. Now as an adult I continue to demonstrate my balancing abilities in my yoga practice. The yoga pose Adho Mukha Vrksasana, better known as Handstand, is an epic feat of strength, grace, courage, and beauty and is very difficult to master. These pieces ultimately represents my precarious artistic and emotional journey into an uncharted chapter of my life. Traveling from point A to point B can be a defining journey full of ‘handstand’ moments in which we attempt great feats of strength where we find harmony, instability or both.