I have used art to explore the relationship between me and my parents. When I was a child I looked at my parents as all-knowing. As far as my kid brain was concerned my parents acted exactly as they should have and were the best parents ever. As I got older and eventually moved out, I realized that there were problems that my naïve kid brain was not able to understand, mostly with my father. I use sculpture as a way to visualize my thoughts on the new information as I interpret my relationship with my parents for the first time as an adult.
“Fran’s Rage Release” is a diptych made with “Angry Dad” and “Scared Child” both made in 2019 from wood, metal, and found objects. The project is based on real events. Several times when I was a child, while throwing the baseball with my father, he became enraged and took his anger out on me by throwing the ball at me fast. The ball did not hit me but I remember the whiz of the ball flying past me and the look of rage in his eyes. Most of what angered him was my lack of baseball skill. As an adult, I look back on that and think about how insecure he must be to feel emasculated by my lack of baseball ability. Also what type of man thinks that inflicting fear in his children is the best way to parent? Fear does make children follow orders but it also creates a lot of resentment. It is better for a child to respect their parent than fear them.
I created “Fran’s Rage Release” in a playful, almost carnival style game to show the ridiculousness of a father releasing his anger onto his 10 year old child. The “Angry Dad” is a pitching machine with a metal tube feeding the balls into the pitching machine. On top of that is an angry face that has the expression of a yelling rage. There is a motion sensor inside the pitching machine that can be triggered by someone walking in front it. When activated the machine will turn on and create a loud whirring noise and will start shaking slightly. The balls never fly out but the noise and shaking creates an anxiety around the piece that make the viewer think they might.
The “Scared Child” is a plush cloth child overtop of a metal armature. It is about the size of a ten year old boy. The child has an expression of terror on its face with a bullseye on its chest to show the target of the pitches is the child. The child is in a stance that looks motionless to show the paralyzing fear of a parent in rage.
Francis Brogan 