SYMBOLIC SELF PORTRAITS
This series of works explores different aspects of my identity represented as symbolic objects replacing or augmenting parts of my body. The surrounding environments and interactions of details carry extra meaning.
ANOMALIES
This is an ongoing series of tintype photographs which explores the historical origins of photography in the Industrial Revolution and how photography has evolved in accord with the rise of digital manipulation and AI. These tintype photographs are contradictory objects both physically and figuratively in that they combine historical and contemporary techniques and draw upon the connotations of each (where historical photography is associated with showing the world without embellishment and contemporary photography is associated with deception and spectacle).
These images are first created as digital collages in Photoshop before being subsequently printed and photographed in order to achieve the final tintype.
ILLUSIONS
A series of works about our perception of reality in the age of photography and image manipulation.
HOT SAUCE
Tony's hot sauces started with the recipes, which I developed myself over several months. When I came up with a concept for hot sauce names and label designs, the projects became illustration projects.
PANDEMIC PLAYING CARDS
Upon the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, I began creating a set of pandemic playing cards. Hundreds of games can be played with a regular deck of cards, symbolizing how each person acts differently when dealing with the stresses of the pandemic. It also reflected the increase in free time, leading to growing numbers of people playing card games or board games around the world. Additionally, cards can be used for magic tricks which symbolizes the unpredictable spread of the virus though asymptomatic carriers.
POLLUTED WORLDS
SEA MONSTERS & POLLUTION
This series of works portrays various sea monsters as being affected by humanity’s oceanic pollution. To me, sea monsters represent the raw power of the marine ecosystem. For thousands of years, sea monsters have been revered as terrifying – rising from the depths and dragging sailors down to their doom. They were thought of as invulnerable, unstoppable forces of the ocean. I believe that showing these creatures suffering due to the waste products our civilization produces really speaks to the magnitude of the pollution problem in the world today.
THE PEARL
This cover redesign for The Pearl, by John Steinbeck, utilizes imagery of scorpions, oysters, pearls, shells, and Pesos. The whimsical style and color-scheme of the cover is meant to represent the way Kino (the main character) first viewed the great pearl – as pure and filled with hope. Upon closer inspection however, one discovers that many of the ornate details are actually dangerous scorpions, just as the symbolism of the pearl shifts in the novel to represent danger and evil and greed. The blue color of the scorpions is inspired by the blue appearance scorpions have when ultraviolet light hits them (a technique often utilized to find scorpions in the dark).
