I’ve been documenting a process of self-destruction as a final record of who I used to be.

The project has been pretty successful, I’m running out of material. But here’s one more.

Kiss Me I’m Irish is really 3 attempts at something over 15 years. The 1st version was a découpaged mannequin covered by paper ripped from dehydrated cardboard and morning papers’ obituary portraits of people from the World War II-era.

I saved those photos for years because I knew they and the media they rested on were a vanishing breed and I wanted to preserve what I could. No one wants to be forgotten.

After adding large amounts of magic marker to link all the imagery I didn’t give the project much attention after that because anyone can glue pictures to a readymade, so why bother?

I worked on other projects and this one sat in a corner of a piano for a long time.

Years passed and then I started thinking about a cassette tape print ad from my youth. It made me picture the mannequin in a new light.

I gave it a Byzantine halo and I started building it out horizontally like that Maxell ad.

Out came the wire and wood to build an armature to support what I loosely supposed was a spinal column on the lam (I hadn’t yet figured what the exploding / escaping vertebrae + nerve combo represented.)

Time passed still until the current state of affairs made things clear.

I came to see the project as a Statue of Liberty-flavored complaint about the miasmic abstraction that’s ruined American society and killed the country that saved the world, seen through Lady Liberty with her layers blasting off and sharded from a corrosive firehose stream of radioactive cultural butchery.

There are other themes as well – it’s a dark piece. What was, was better.

I had previously decided to use only items I’d already saved.

What self-respecting Collyer Brother doesn’t have his own collection to save the day?

From the collection I chose a mannequin top,  old newspapers, plastic, wire, wood, maps, magic markers, eyeglasses,  trainsetPeople, an atlas, antique watches, record sleeves,  walkman headphones, dog tags, clothes pins, a piece of my couch, a 78rpm record, office supplies, vintage radio parts, a glass chandelier, an old fan and nylon fishing line.

Smear in some Mod Podge, glue, tape & staples and I was good to go.

As I added parts the figure became more robotic and Terminator-like.

There’s a nod to the HAL 9000 at the end: the self-perception of a robot losing its mind. Watch it without blinking.

The soundtrack “Modern Blando” was written and demoed over a long night in my last apartment.

It’s a spare Tascam 4-track recording but that’s the point: this music and vibe appeared fully-formed in my head and I had to capture it while it persisted.

In recording it, the drummer and I went for a Beatles “White Album” feel. Can you hear the Rick 4001 bass? 

I recorded acoustic guitar first, then the bass, then piano, then some samples I made from my vinyl LP collection.

After the drums I added some electric guitar at the end and that was that. 

Some Stills