Talk Heavy To Me portrays a crazy, overblown Victorian-style therapy center. I use the history of psychiatry to trigger contemplation about the way that we deal with contemporary issues at this time of radical change, a time when everything is up for grabs, a time when the glory of tradition often wanes. I want to spark the delight of hearing truths and secrets blurted out in therapy sessions. By employing bombastic hyperbole, overblown aphorisms, true quotes from philosophers, and a fairy tale narrative, I aim to show how knowledge can improve our quality of life. I want to catalyze investigation of our uniquely progressive nature and describe how we enunciate and deal with psychological issues. How do we keep our lives sacred and meaningful in this over-stimulated-corporate-it's-chipped-so-trash-it screen-dominated-bottom-line-overquantified climate?
Text excerpt:
"Welcome to the TALK HEAVY TO ME Psychological Therapy Center of Los Angeles
        BECOME AN ELECTRIC, ECCENTRIC, WHIZ - BANG SOUL!

BUST OUT YOUR BEST SELF!
    Lose the self-imposed solitary confinement that currently defines your thunderously repetitious and inbred existence!

CONNECT WITH OTHERS!
    Join in the parade of true spirits throughout modern history who have bravely analyzed their thought patterns so that you can develop a righteous belief system brimming with airtight commitment.

FREE YOUR MIND!
     Stop hypercerebrating! Lose your preoccupation with overquantified technologically-based factoids and mind-numbing corporate influences!

Take our free introductory NEUROTIC SINGLES WORKSHOP and improve the quality of your life with these techniques:

Empathetic blushing

Comforting 'active-listening' grunts

Broadcast velvety smooth body language"

This fantasy installation describes the living quarters of my alter ego, Blotista Paradisimo. She had to retreat to an abandoned treehouse after blowing up to five times her height, but fared well replacing her job, house, and boyfriend. This series explores identity and character in times of great stress.

Text excerpts:
"STEAKPLATE NECKLACE (Career Descriptions by Preschoolers):
---I wood like to be an EXTERMINATOR, so if olladies screemed in a chair, I could squish the rat between my fists plus they would give me money.
---A HOUSEWIFE loves to get in a car so she doesn't have to rub things. She says NO NO NO Don't brake it!
---A SOLDIER knows things from dirty places and wants to have you see him more. But you are skared and want to wait faster.
---A SHOPKEEPER has too much boxes to sell and she can't but she wayts and looks out her window if it smells.
---A FARMER will take you on a bumpy ride but he must look far away and think about where the water went.
---A MECHANIC smiles with greese all over and makes you go, but you sit first and hold magazines and candy.
---A MATCHMAKER is the best job. When you wood see too people kissing and you NO you made them kiss plus yood come to there wedding everytime.
---An INTERPRETER is important. If too peeple want to say ideas they would just hafto look at each other. But I can help!
---A GEOLOGIST knows if a rock will brake and gets to eat in the sun. They hafto say jokes to get bigger hammers."

Excerpt from installation text:
"When Blotista expanded, she immediately searched for a new job. She found this ad in The Daily Magpie:
'Employment Opportunity: Pretzel Twist Demonstrator. Olive Oyl-type contortionist needed to physically demonstrate new pretzel shapes at point-of-purchase street cart outside the airport. Must have upscale client base, steel-toed shoes and six months of experience in pattern salt spreading."

True story of a local boy who drowned in a storm drain.

A sendup of products based on master artists' works. Vinnie Van Go! describes a factory that cranks out poor copies of his images. An anti-corporate poem is funkily stamped on a changing screen and the floor is covered with numbered bakery waiting tickets.