As a kid, my grandparents had a house on Martha’s Vineyard in Edgartown. On rainy summer days they’d take us to Oak Bluffs to ride the Flying Horses which have cheerful, zesty, honky tonk energy about them. There’s the scent of popcorn and butter and the sound of rings clicking and organ music playing. While The Flying horses bring up a rainy day memory for me, this image is so sunny, colorful, energized and cheerful– the horses with all their reds and yellows swirling together. I wanted to communicate that the entire purpose of these horses is to go around and around in circles again and again. The motion, the thrill the noise and the colors is both exhilarating and at the same time exhausting. Nothing is still. Nothing is in focus. The image has a life of it’s own, it’s own motion. It isn’t looking for perfection.

When I got the Photo I felt Inspired and excited about using a different angle for creation. I am surrounded by wild horses on the Island where I live. They are such noble creatures full of strength and passion. The photograph evoked a dreamlike power and fantasy accompanied by drive, ambition and childlike fun. The first things that came to mind were the sound of horse’s hoofs, snorting nostrils large beating hearts and the gamble we make with lovers. I set about setting rhythm to the horse’s heartbeat. The repetitive lick ‘chase motif’ came next, then came ‘The king of hearts’ lyric inspired by the size of Xanthus’s (the largest stallion the my island) heart and how his mares vie for his unpredictable attention. The rest was almost completely unconscious. This song is about every girl I’ve ever chased and who’s ever chased me as well as tipping my hat to those extremely strong and independent women that have helped shaped my manhood.

The music seems upbeat and happy but has these dark and depressing undertones. The reference to gambling brought me thoughts of depravity, shallowness, lights, false power and Vegas, which has this larger than life vibe; a sense of false possibilities and sugar coated hopeful promises where under the surface it’s pretty horrible and rotten. Iimagined the life of a character I called Lola who’s from a rag tag town in Nebraska or Kentucky. Her lifelong dream is to be a star and she’s come to Vegas to fulfill her destiny. She’s met and placed her faith in a charismatic, powerful but destructive man. In my image I wanted to capture this woman backstage, about to go on, and feeling alone and scared. I imagine she’s giving herself a pep talk. I wanted to create a scene of anticipation and a voyeuristic heartbreak around watching something beautiful and vulnerable on the brink of destruction. The location I chose to photograph in was an abandoned club around the corner from my studio in NJ. I chose to have my character coming out of drastic shadows which to me represent the reality that things aren’t all shiny and pretty as they may seem on the surface.

Listening the song I imagined a place in the American countryside. I imagined a woman and a man, a house and a tree. The couple is content living a very monotonous, repetitive, predictable existence. I imagined the man, very macho but with a humble side sitting on a red couch in a white T-shirt. The woman I imagined to be noble and very strong. My challenge was to try to represent the relationship using only myself. The chair came to represent the relationship. I, and my movements, came to represent the couple in their simplistic; normal repetitive lives with the occasional typical lifesurprises.

The feeling we all three immediately got from the dance was a feeling that has fascinated us for a long time: ‘boredom’. In the video we saw the dancer struggling with boredom. He moves around restlessly in his chair. His struggle gets fiercer every second. But it’s a very rhythmical, well-orchestrated struggle. Being from the Internet generation, the three of us have a very short attention span. We get bored easily. Being bored is something a lot of people have a negative association with. But for us, these are moments fantasy can run wild. The outcome of this project for us is a celebration of our boredom; we accept and embrace it as a natural part of life. For us the “Bored” flag we created is a symbol of celebration.