Afterimage

The Artist as Superhero

You are looking at two artworks in one: the image itself—entitled Crouch Enclose—and the character I invented, a superhero I call Untitled Man. The character grew out of my interest in how creativity arises from within the artist. I studied medical illustrations of body systems such as the circulatory system and the nervous system and began to imagine what a “creatory system” would look like. I rendered it in fabric paint on a cotton unitard and then sculpted a helmet and mask to go with it. The result was a costume like one a comic book character would wear. I went on from Untitled Man to develop three other “fine art superheroes”: Electrostar, the avatar for harmony; Remon, the avatar for protest; and Donagdeo, the avatar for transformation. All were featured in my flash mob performance Interplay! October 4 at Boston’s Roxbury Crossing T stop. Four choreographers wearing the superhero costumes enacted epic narratives with the help of dance students from Boston Latin Academy.