Dauntless Indignant Geography
Detail: Lutheran Substation, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Dauntless Indignant Geography
The Dauntless Indignant Geography Series are visual Koans (documents that test one’s understanding of Zen). DIGS is a synthesis of conceptual and representational imagery orchestrated and rooted in abstract expressionistic maps that guided the viewer through the visual form of the city and urban space.
DIGS longs for the rural, the naturally untamed, and meets its man-made counterpart on the surface constructed with a personal codex (a code, a manuscript, a book). Consisting of fourteen mixed media paintings using graphite, gouache and paint marker as materials, paintings on panel. Thirteen are 24 inches squared while one is at 36 inches by 48 inches. “Blackness”، light, energy, frequency, darkness/shadows and fire. Linked to Zen Buddhism, specifically its roots within Black culture, Abstract Expressionism, geography, space and time. Alluding to specific times of day and seasons, DIGS asks:
“Where lies the power-where lies your power-what is before and after the fire?”
As visual koans The Dauntless Indignant Geography Series seeks to reclaim one’s energy, power, light and understanding of self through visual meditations on the “darkness” the “shadows” and “Blackness” leading to the joyous light.
Triple Dipped Purple Wizards, 36 inches by 48 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Triple Dipped Purple Wizards
inspired by Koan:
“Does your mind quiet as loud as a hummingbird’s flight or as soft as a thunderstorm”?
Black, blue and purple was his skin. Skin tape could be the name of his punk band. With the voice and sound of the Stooges. He has begun to articulate a visual map of the “streets”.
That place where the air would bend and rip—in the wind as we sat on the porch of that white house, on the edge of Wilson and Easton, Pennsylvania.
We were outside on the porch, because the eyes on the faces among plastered the living room walls documenting the history of twin cheerleaders.
As Fantasia played on the VCR and the brooms left the TV and steamboat Willy—in color—began to circle the room and the eyes continued to twirl.
Off the faces and out of the picture frames while—
The heat from the cigarette filled living room made for a new age introduction to HR Puffin and Stuff.
So, he found himself in the backyard, sun beating on his neck as he watched the visual trails left by the line of ants crossing in front of his face—
Which he had lying on the cold sidewalk. After some time, he needed to move,
and he needed to peep out the neighborhood.
As mentioned, the air was splitting as the cars passed each other in opposing lanes of traffic. The traffic in his mind needed new stimulus to make it to the precipice of true freedom in his mind. Allowing the forces of the universe to merge with his out-of-control imagination focused on mental liberation. His hesitation was warranted as he left the backyard gate, and the at the next home on the block with a blue siding matching the blue gate. The neighbor cut off a chicken’s head and he kept on slipping and sliding.
Partners in crime—we all skipped school to climb the heights of hood escape that day.
They all thought he was lost around the block, but he just needed an escape from the frozen mentality. See his mind already left his hometown of Easton
and was making music with Sun-Ra in space.
Triple Dipped Purple Wizards was the match that lit the inferno. He has scorched streets and sidewalks with front and backside power slides since before he was 9.
Grinding curbs and testing his mind. Fighting skinheads and preppies losing their mind because the sweet black kid could ride. And he rode off into the cold embrace of the world.
Searching for the city
Shadow Boxing, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Shadow Boxing
inspired by Koan:
“Is it the inside or outside reflection shattered in a broken mirror?”
Can they match his energy?
The frequency—pigmented black and white as the light reflected in holy spaces
Emulating the world of their gods.
Material described in the eyes
Light dancing on the raindrops disrupting the flow of the oil that floats on top
He still drops the groceries in the rain filled pothole outside the crib
Cold, wet, absent of the grit and spit.
Oh, how he longs for the comfort of the night and quiet that fills the
Room with the volume matching the rent party and train mixing kissing beats
Passing by in thin air.
He was sweet kindhearted but blind.
In the heart not the eyes.
Both Mothers broke his heart
Had his mind
FUCKED UP
And daddy, big bros cousins, Family
Didn’t raise no punk.
Not as punk as his purple couture skirt with belt loops and pockets
For his chain wallet.
Tight fitted grey Doors shirt
K-mart loafers
Septum pierced bees wax dreads
Skateboard
and a
40 oz. of OE
Blunt
See
It was the birth of G
1996 on N 7 Street
February Grid System, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
February Grid System
inspired by the Koan:
“Why does the heart remain cold near a fire and the flesh burn with the touch of ice?”
He walks a lot you know.
Have you ever walked the streets in -35 below?
Have you ever heard the volume of your mind in the dead silence.
As you witness the physical death before your eyes.
Your breath helps keep tabs on your ability to last in this air.
This thin air.
His dad used to say, “you are on thin ice—buddy”!
And he was the leader during the Boy Scout winter jamboree.
Carrots and Peas with buttered bread.
Beans and Franks and buttered bread.
From the can he ate until he fled.
To a tundra of light, so cold the birds no longer sing until the presence of spring.
Blinded by past shadows
The clouds are nonexistent or too thin to follow.
So now he guesses which dragons are flying out of the smoke bellows.
Along highways near the water and hoods.
On the edge of the downtown and quickly isolated by highways
Black neighborhoods.
That’s where the air is sick.
And the ice is thick.
Slick was his name or his game.
It was never supposed to come to fame.
It was escape from—
Consistent pain.
Make sure you wear sunglasses.
From the death, the pain, and emotional flight.
Came the light.
Son—now those are what they call—
Substations.
Electrical Lineman Communications
Lutheran Substation, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Lutheran Substation
inspired by the Koan:
“If the food is poison, why does it still nourish?”
“Boy I will be on you—like white on rice”!
You can get cut—rolling dice.
Minnesota nice.
He’s a black cat.
Lone wolf no pack—
But known by all including the hustler, pimps and thieves.
He has had more than 9 lives.
A holy trinity—
It’s by 3’s.
Blessed, looked over, born again
And deceased.
Chicken
Grease.
Caged in philosophical warfare
Yet the seeds were planted.
Tears watered the land.
Boxer fracture of the right hand.
Kissed of frozen ground
Fist a cuff in the smoke cloud rings
Out his mouth.
He gave himself to the journey long ago.
While his dad on Sundays
put bullet holes in
Targets at—range.
How do I explain
Spiritual loss—
Physical gains.
It’s all a part of the game.
Neutron 85 Gold, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Neutron 85 Gold
inspired by the Koan:
“How far does a bird fly before it lands?”
Weed, hash, cocaine, LSD
Meth, black tar
Mushrooms
Copious amounts of alcohol.
Crack, crank, pills for the mind.
He’s done his time on the outside for crimes he didn’t commit.
Yet payment was due regardless of experience.
Now he searches for the brook.
The meadow the stream.
Deep rooted download and integration system reboot.
Street boy technological transmission to Octavia—
Audre—
Lorde
Sun-Ra
Butler.
He once was a flower that grew in your garden.
Now he fills the air
With sounds of colors.
Mapping our peoples to the new galaxies.
We call for her many times—
Moses!
By and by—atop the tress near the seas
He can still here
Our ancestors sing
On the beats and rhythms of firefly wings.
Star dust
DNA
Diptych: Yo - BTV RAPS, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed-Media on Panel 2025
Diptych
Yo - BTV RAPS
inspired by the Koan:
“How dark is the sky and how light is the deepest part of the ocean?”
They tried to silence the drums and our chants by the fire.
Fab Five Freddy, Jean and Keith plugged us back into the airwaves
While they scrolled the New Testament of the “Streets” in
Chalk, paint—and TV.
The Old Testament was too bleak.
YO- B TV, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Cartoon characters replace saints and morals and ethics were shared
After the 5 O’clock news.
By 10 you better make sure your PJs were on, so you could catch the one last video.
That song from the corner where deals were made by the generals.
Block this and block that—switch the records,
Our parents read as—
Why you damn kids always scratching my jams.
Damn!!!
God Damnit!
Video killed the radio star—and Public Enemy changed time
And the flavor of our cool aid was more than red.
Like rent party cups on Brooklyn roof tops.
Stop—
you know
you ain’t from here.
He was from where the river meets the sky and the moose sings love songs to toads.
The space before Robert met the Devil on the roads in Mississippi.
Belly of Lead bullets from past conflicts over land and skin.
Blood-soaked fields of lost lineage.
RAPS, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed-Media on Panel 2025
The only gang he could bare to join road on decks with four wheels
A hope and a prayer as we bombed hill after hill—
Reciting the last mixed tape someone’s cousin brought back from
Philly—
Steaks, one slice of Sicilian cheese please.
And a Duce Duce of “Henny”
80’s and 90’s was different
Kind of….
Up Top, Down - Low, Too Slow, 24 inches by 24 inches each , Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Triptych
UP Top, Down – Low, Too Slow
inspired by the Koan:
“What does the rooster crow to the still rabbit?”
He’s touched the morning dew as the sunlight refracts through the cold droplet of water upon the blade of grass in the backyard of his childhood home.
Watch the ants care for the Peonies.
Mom liked the pink blooms—
or were they white.
Mom used Coppertone—and we roamed the neighborhood on bikes
Testing skills and fear in cemeteries.
Up Top, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Forgotten dreams and mistakes laid to rest in one place
And having your first kiss at halfmoon was a thing to do.
Spider bites from working the zones of tombstones so we could buy enough pot, LS D and Mad Dog 20/20
Way before you thought Tik Tok was an app.
Your mama and your mama’s mama and her mama
Slap the taste out your mouth.
For being disrespectful.
Auntie and Nanny didn’t play—
Unless it was the numbers.
And the 2’s better be hitting.
I’m not—Fucking Playing with this shit
Or—y’all
No
MO.
Down - Low, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
The boys had to sweep, do the dishes and clean the kitchen floor.
Before playing Coleco vision.
X-Ray vision—
Simple up, down, left and right.
What’s right is Right
What’s wrong is wrong.
You don’t know the words to this damn song.
This was my jam back in the day.
Man, you know you wrong.
Shit—man
Then what’s the name of the song?
Fuck You!
And we keep—
Keeping on.
Too Slow, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
1980 Proton Blast- Fireflies and Fairies Throwdown, 6pm Static Cling Electro- Red Blotters, 24 inches by 24 inches each , Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Polyptych
Fireflies and Fairies Throwdown in a 1980 Proton Blast—with 6pm Static Cling Electro—Red Blotters
inspired by the Koan:
“Can the eye capture every star at night?”
He’s so strong, and resilient. Why have you traveled so far from home?
Is it a thrown or skipped stone?
95,96, 98 2000-2001.
He rebooted the system drive in the snow.
Can’t you hear the soft crunch of footsteps head to devour
Hot salad.
Fireflies and Fairies Throwdown, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
He functions best when he wakes during Ambrosia hour.
Fucking salad again, as he spent his last coin on his anointments into fatherhood.
Where he dreamed of Fireflies and Fairies dancing upon the child’s face.
As they dreamed of far-off lands, they would someday explore.
He abhors the fact he’s not back in the junk lots and alleyways with broken glass
like next to mom’s apartment and Am Vets.
Vets on the block fighting the demons from the past spat overseas.
Little man don’t get caught up in this shit.
1980 Proton Blast, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
You smart and got a good heart.
There’s no glory while they watch you fall apart.
So let the phoenix rise young ram.
Stand, stand, stand tall and face up.
Look everyone in the eyes.
That’s how you survive.
And survive he did, but at what expense?
Like Fences- it was fear that his dad struggled to express.
So—he’s like a war-torn Vet with no war to point to overseas.
He looks in the mirror every day and all that he mutters.
It’s Me.
6pm Static Cling, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
Take that next step, take that leap into the abyss.
His DNA is stardust and his
Angels are pissed.
Electro – Red Blotters, 24 inches by 24 inches, Mixed Media on Panel 2025
