Wilderness

I think that nature, while beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dangerous. I went and saw Gregory Colbert's "Ashes and Snow" exhibit when it was in Santa Monica. It was big and fancy and boring. Every picture was some ethnic child cradling a leopard or having a hawk land on its small brown head. It was the stereotypical "communing with nature" bit, and it (along with the "Where's Waldo" and "I Spy" books) inspired me to make these two prints, which--I think--are a little more real. Nature isn't something to dilly-dally around with, because it will try to kill you. Every time I go backpacking here in Alaska (so far every weekend this summer) I'm frightened by the prospect of running into a bear or falling down a mountain. They're real fears and should be respected. For these photos I went out to Joshua Tree National Park for the first image and the Santa Monica Mountains for the second. All the animals were photographed in the National History Museum of Los Angeles.