FLAMING EIGHT BALL, 2002

22" x 30", charcoal, acrylic on paper - $7,500

KALTENBACH ANNOTATIONS:  We are behind "the eight ball". This term refers to a situation in the game of pool in which a player is trapped with very few options. The hope in this situation is that with enough skill a shot can be made. With these Nuclear Space Works I feel like the guy walking around with a sandwich board yelling, "The end is near."

Once you grow up under "The Bomb" you are left with a certain amount of pessimism. In grammar school I remember the atomic attack drills when we got under our desks, curled up in a ball and with our face to the floor waited to be vaporized from back to front. I never saw much advantage to that. Then when the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated to the ultimate confrontation, I begged my brother to not go to work in San Francisco because the city was targeted by Russian ICBM's. The world did not end in fire that day; the U.S. Navy played chicken with the Russian Navy and they came to a mutual decision to postpone Armageddon. Later, I was told that if San Francisco had been nuked, the temperature would have reached 375 degrees where we lived 50 miles north. With these nuclear projects in which I use fission and fusion bombs as media, my goal is to use it all up: no more media, no more problem.

I like to think about the influence that art has on my work. In these terms, one of the most important art experiences I have ever had was seeing the film, Dr. Strangelove. In the theater I found myself, incredibly, laughing at the horror of the destruction of the world. That was one of my earliest and most clear encounters with irony.

THE END, 2004,,                                                                                         “LA Story”(“The End”), 2004

Unlimited Edition book, published by   $15.95 on Amazon                       Same book with rubber stamp additions & signed/numbered edition of100 - $250

                                                                                                                   

Model for a Blast Proof Peace Monument, 2002.

 21 7/8"  x 15 x 1 1/8'', Fortified concrete, edition of 20, $5,000