These characters are childhood memories of the ultimate man – the Dad every boy wants, the man every boy wants to grow up to be. My hand knit acrylic re-creations of these heroes’ costumes combine their heroic, protective, ultra-masculine, yet vulnerable personae with the protective gestures of my mother – hand knit acrylic sweaters meant to keep me safe from New England winters. The costumes are life-size, my size, wearable objects that hang limply on hangers challenging the standard muscular form of the hero and offering the space for someone to imagine themselves wearing the costume, becoming the hero. They become the uniforms I can wear to protect my family from the threats (bullies, murderers, terrorists, pedophiles, and fanatical messianic characters) we are told surround us.
In addition to the ideas about gender and protection I am also interested in how the costume can reflect the physical qualities we attribute to the hero. In the Fantastic Four costume the neck, arms and shoulders are knit to my size while the legs and overall size of the costume are clearly too large for a six foot tall man. While the proportions of Batman 3 are based on those of a very muscular action figure, scaled up to my six foot tall height, resulting in a costume that is too large for me and that drapes and sags even more than the others.
The Two Gun Kid and the Rawhide Kid are cowboy comic book heroes from my youth. I believe that the qualities described in stories about cowboys and the American West bear a direct correlation to the qualities and ideals of traditional comic book superheroes.
Batman 3. Hand knit acrylic and buttons. 2006. 80" x 23" x 6"
Daredevil. Hand knit acrylic and buttons. 2003. 77" x 27" x 6"
Fantastic Four (Reed Richards) Hand knit acrylic and buttons. 2003. 120" x 23" x 6"
Two Gun Kid. Hand knit acrylic and buttons, 2006. 76" x 30" x 4"
Rawhide Kid, Hand knit acrylic and buttons, 2004. 80" x 23" x 6".