On Crypsis and the Worm Ouroboros; Biston betularia Linneaus Moth
41x16x36”, foam, epoxy, watercolor, wood, 2005
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Exhibited at Shoshanna Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles in 2006 as part of the show "No Man's Land," curated by Sarah Pironti.

On Crypsis and the Worm Ouroboros…: Biston betularia Linneaus Moth, is a sculptural taxonomy schematic of the relationship between expanding 19th century capitalism and the historicization of nature. The work re-classifies the invasive peppered moth, famous for it's use as the first genetic proof of "survival of the fittest", after it undergoes a melanic shift in coloration as the crypsis to the increasingly polluted industrial landscape of Edwardian England. Through exploring the analogies that were being created by scientists of the time between "natural" and "social" selection the piece looks at the influence that humans have had over their environment; both in mutation and in taxonomy.

AUSTIN, TX / LOS ANGELES, CA