pranks

Taking my cat on a walk

multimedia practical joke/
2018-2023

Michelle’s Vagina has had a vast and fractal trajectory. It began with a project inspired by how plants communicate with their sexual organs, which led me to paint portraits of my friends’ genitals in 2018. The most evocative portrait was of the five distinct moles on Michelle’s pudendum, so I used this image for the cover of Worm House, Issue 10, which Staples refused to print. In 2019, the original gouache painting of Michelle’s Vagina was displayed as part of the Alumnae: 50 years exhibition at Gund Gallery in Gambier, OH. I texted Michelle the following message, “very sad but cheered that my museum checklist includes Michelle’s Vagina.” Michelle took a photo of this message as it arrived on her flip phone, and in 2020, I painted a replica of her picture of my message on a larger scale, in authoritative oils. I also re-painted Michelle’s Vagina in oil paint on a 4ft x 3ft canvas, which was displayed as part of Censored, a two-person exhibition at Avalanche Art Space in Great Barrington, MA. The painting accompanied me all the way to Portland State University, and in 2023, I enlisted my neighbor (Dante) to film me as I carried Michelle’s Vagina across campus to Taravat Talepasand’s office, where it presently resides.

WORM HOUSE ISSUE 10

Asian Glow Guide to Portland

google reviews/
2022

I am intrigued by the democracy inherent in Google Reviews; in theory, as long as you don’t write about penises and pudendums, your writing will be published on a widely-read public platform. (Unfortunately, over half my reviews weren’t published because fingering and blowjobs are integral to the culinary experience). For better or for worse, we’ve all fed our consumer fixations with deluges of customer reviews – it’s a booming literary genre for the instagram-addled mind. Written directly after a cross-country relocation, Asian Glow Guide to Portland was a way for me to share my experiences and reflections of a new city.

Deinum Prize of Visionaries and Provocateurs

pen on promotional postcards/
2022

The Deinum Prize is a yearly $10,000 prize awarded to a Portland State University Art + Design student. Posters and stacks of promotional postcards for the prize were distributed throughout the art building. With the assistance of a perverted poet who wishes to remain anonymous, I collected all the postcards and gave each Mr. Deinum facsimile a “provocative” voice bubble.

Our 10,000 dollar grant for coffee enemas

Guided Meditation

2019

This guided meditation was a commission for together’s beta test slumber party.

“together helps your small business or art collective save time by holding meetings while you sleep. Using lucid dreaming strategies your team will meet on an astral plane, connecting without the barriers of language or gravity.”

Hot Married Dads (HMDs)

an inside joke with Michelle Kaplan/
2019

In July 2019, I was invited to read at Poetry in the Park in the amphitheater of Turn Park, “surrounded by the lovely nature of the Berkshires.” Michelle’s favorite poem is I gave my clothes to dad and laughed, which was inspired by a diet book I found in the free bin of the Great Barrington library. She requested that I read it and take off all my clothes part way through, so I did. (After all, I did pee on someone publicly the day before – what dignity did I have left to preserve?). Several audience members stormed off, but Michelle was euphoric. Worth it.

Married Dads

a collaboration with Michael Lesko/ 2019