Zeke Locklear

Tearing me up inside Broke my bones to fit your mold I can't take much Just let me camp out in the fog it's hard to be who we are Nothing left to make me feel small

This collection work is a combination of performance art, sculpture, and painting which explores my relationship with emotions. The works represent the stages within my emotional cycle: anger, sorrow, and joy. I begin with punching a five pound mound of clay until it is flattened, reflecting the immediate want to hit something in a burst of anger. I then splatter paint upon a life sized portrait of myself as a representation of the anger turning inward and the self-hate beginning. I then tore a previous work into pieces to represent the outward “lash-out” that can target others or an object. I then paced along the perimeter of a tufting rug while I left paint with every step, this recreating how I utilize pacing to help collect my thoughts when sorrow approaches. I then recorded myself drinking many beers to showcase the use of artificially created joy as an attempt to escape the sorrow and anger. Finally, I invited multiple friends to help me in smashing pieces of clay with fist marks, small representations of the first piece, with a bat to represent the authentic joy that is felt while spending quality time with those close to you. This is a healthy escape from this cycle.

The collection of work had restraints upon their process being a limit of time to create and size of the piece, being the lengths of songs I have strong emotional connections with and maintaining the piece to be within the limits of my body. These restraints act as a means to take such chaotic and abstract thought and put it into an understandable form; restraints in the work are a representation of the restrictions that have been put on my emotions by societal pressures.