Eugene Vallely

I am a harbinger of found items. I take items that I have found, natural or manmade and enclose them into a "cage" made of wire mesh. The cage represents our creative brains and all the ideas and emotions that are trapped inside hoping that a spark of creativity will at some time in our lives let us express this creativity. The items placed inside reflect the trapped ideas. I am not an artist but feel a great need to express myself in some format. I initially made skyscrapers out of the wire mesh to express the sight of the New York Skyline from my first trip on the Staten Island Ferry in 1984. The image of the Twin Towers and the view from the ferry has been forever imprinted on my mind and I have been recreating this image in many forms since. It is like the peak made of mashed potatoes in Close Encounters of the First Kind, I have to reproduce this image. I call my creations Cageheads and give them to friends and family and often will place items in the cages at their request. My favorite is a cage with a bashed up toy car that I made for a friend of mine to help him deal with a car crash he was in. Some people like to wear the cages, others like to have them on their desks are as items for home or work places. I am looking forward to reading Sparks as I still feel I have not found my creative outlet. This cage has an Australian Crystal, raw copper and a piece of broken mirror. It is my wife's favorite. Thanks Eugene Vallely.