Couch 1
1998
88" x 19" x 12"
stainless steel, 95 used pillowcases, mothballs

All of these pillowcases came from troubled times in the donors' lives. Many are from first marriages. One blood-stained pillowcase has a tag from a VA hospital, and several are from the movie-star mother of a friend of mine. There is a companion piece titled "Couch 2" that is filled with all starched, new pillowcases and smelly dryer sheets.

"Couch 1" premiered in a solo show at Robert McClain & Co in Houston called Encase: To Wrap Up In Something Solid in November 1998. It was selected by Don Bacigalupi and Michael Ray Charles to tour the state with Texas Fine Arts Association's Transcending Limits exhibition. It appeared in Dadayou Dadahou at ArtScan Gallery in Houston in September 1999 and in 2000 was selected by Sara Kellner, Carla Stellweg and Chris Cowden for Dallas Visual Arts Center's 2000 Critic's Choice exhibition.