Aunt Emma's situation

This piece comments on the struggles of African-Americans and the stress and pressure they constantly have to deal with as the result of racism in our culture. We see here the artist’s use of a pressure gauge and other visual references to ‘applied pressure’ such as the pressed tin lid to a humidor to represent that stress. We also see the artist’s use of a bottle of holy water and a Christian cross reflecting hope gained by strongly held religious faith.

This artwork deals with desire, sexuality and temptation. As a visual pun regarding the title of this artwork, here we see two Jesuit priests, one holding a football and the other playing the flute. Whether to ‘pass’ on the temptation or ‘play’ is the dilemma here. We see a very handsome young man as the source of temptation. The photograph is a circa 1950’s vintage physique study, taken by Bruce Bellas (a.k.a. ‘Bruce of Los Angeles’). This now seemingly tame photograph was then considered to be pornography. The photograph is mounted on a trivet. A trivet is an object that holds hot plates slightly above a tabletop to prevent the heat from warping/damaging the tabletop. As we see here the trivet it is still holding a “hot plate” namely the image of the handsome young man. The artist used a trivet that had a rooster atop so that it could be painted gold as a visual pun in reference to ‘the golden cock.’  

This artwork is called “JOHN DOE (homage to Ed Kienholz).” Famed beat era assemblage artist Ed Kienholz (1927 – 1994) created an artwork called JOHN DOE in 1959 reflecting his view of the “every man's" condition in the 1950s.

Lou D’Elia created his JOHN DOE reflecting the current time period. D’Elia has been frustrated and concerned with the ongoing political dialogue surrounding proposed cuts to Medicare and Social Security, and the attempts at further “screwing” America's ‘middle class.’ Basically the middle class have worked their entire lives with the promise that something would be there for them in their old age. Now it is uncertain whether the promises will be kept. 

D’Elia’s JOHN DOE represents the typical blue collar American worker who basically starts off against the wall (hence the use of a three-legged table that is designed only for use against the wall). The fact that the American worker is being “screwed” is represented by the use of a large antique wood screw foundry mold for his chest/heart, and of course his balls are always being kicked (represented by the somewhat deflated Everlast speed bag hanging under the table. The ‘speed bag’ is used by boxers to sharpen their punching skills). On the backside of this artwork is an aluminum Social Security card that shows JOHN DOE’S Social Security number 000 – 00 – 0000 representing his likely fate. This artwork, as is true with all artworks by D’Elia, has a vintage numbered factory tool checkout tag attached to the artwork next to the artist’s signature.

D’Elia uses old foundry molds in his art because his father was a pattern-maker and made similar things out of wood for a living and so D’Elia grew up with them in his life. Sadly these handmade foundry molds are discarded objects now much like the American workers who have lost their jobs because their places of employment have closed and gone out of business or because they are older workers whose once valued skills have become obsolete due to advancing technology.

This piece is a commentary on taking responsibility, or not, for decisions and actions as the result of one’s free will. This artwork is ultimately a commentary on those who do evil things to others in the name of ‘God’, ‘Jesus’, ‘Allah’ or other religious representations of “a higher power.” Here we see the bust of Jesus (somewhat aged and beat up) that sits atop a telephone lineman's field test phone where the switch is set to ‘listen only.’ Evidently the person who had been here, listening, did not like what they were hearing and so the listening device is left hanging as if the listener left in a hurry. Jesus is presented here as if he is being grilled/interrogated. The use of an Art Deco machinist’s ‘bullet lamp’ above reinforces that effect. We also see in this piece reference to Jesus’s ‘Second Coming’ promise with the use of a ‘Will Return’ sign. This artwork is part of D’Elia's ‘Rolling Conundrum’ series. The rolling conundrums are artworks created to represent problems that occur everywhere in the world. All world religions, all of which preach the power of love, have been abused by some and used as a platform to harm others. This artwork comments upon the questioning of one’s faith and beliefs and whether there exists a God or higher power.  

This artwork is a commentary on the fact that even if you are fortunate to live to be 100 years old (or older) life passes very quickly. The artist is commenting on the importance of living your life, actualizing who you are as the unique individual that you are, and adding that back into the world. As Pancho Barnes, famous aviatrix, was noted for saying, “Don’t try to be like anyone else because we’ve seen that already!”  This artwork is made up of a whale oil lamp sitting atop fragments of wood foundry molds. We see a red fox skull wrapped in copper wire sitting atop a scale. The artist has affixed to the front of the scale numerous Chinese fortune cookie sayings that he collected over the course of two years. Be sure to read some of the fortune cookie sayings that are pasted to the front of the scale. The weight of the skull has the pointer on the scale pointing to the fortune cookie saying, ‘Good times burn fast.’  This is another artwork from D’Elia's “Rolling Conundrum” series. The Rolling Conundrums are artworks created to represent problems that occur everywhere in the world affecting everyone.

Lineman 

This artwork is a contemplation on masculinity.  We see at the center a photograph depicting a determined, strong masculine young man wearing a gridiron football uniform circa 1910. He is a lineman. The artwork is constructed from an early 20th century electrical resistor box that forms the base, with a wood found object sitting on top that has survived a fire. The use of copper wire and a leather belt fragment complete the assemblage; all parts commenting on the strength and energy of masculinity.

This is the first assemblage artwork created by D’Elia. At the invitation of assemblage-artist/curator, Susan Tibbles, D’Elia was encouraged to start creating art and submit something to the juried “Bull Show” exhibition in Santa Barbara, California in September 2012. D’Elia was awarded the ribbon for “Best Emerging Artist.”

This is one of the artist’s autobiographical pieces. The artist grew up in the 1950s when the US culture was very cowboy/cowgirl centric, with country swing music playing on the radio and primarily Westerns (cowboy vs. Indians) playing on the then relatively new invention of TV. As such, the kind-hearted, masculine cowboy became the artist’s male role model and ideal, which was also true for most American boys from that time period. However, the artist felt that he was somehow different from his other young male friends.  He could not quite figure it out until his hormones finally kicked-in during puberty. It was then that he realized that he not only had an emotional connection to the cowboy but also a sexual attraction. In this artwork we see that the photograph of the young cowboy is placed in the center of the male gender symbol. However, instead of the arrow tip on the male symbol we see the fleur-de-lis reflecting the artist’s early childhood gut feeling that he was somehow ‘different’, only later in his teens discovering and coming to terms with the fact that he was a masculine male who was also gay.