Real and not fade away, Strange frequencies, and Raised to an odd power (displayed above, in that order) are three portraits of Elvis, in a series of seven. Each measures 8” x 10”, drawn with ink on paper, made in 2023.

I am fascinated by the idea of Elvis. His image functions as a poetic object, living a life entirely separate than the man himself, an object of mythic proportions — Elvis' face can be found anywhere, from mirrors to cuckoo clocks to the nichrome wires glowing, radiant, within toasters. His treatment of his wife, Priscilla, and his decline into substance abuse sicken me, yet I can't look away. There is a larger thread that I want to uncover with this series — something about the pitfalls of artificial immortality, something about the Once and Future King. Something about physical artifice and genuine intent and grimy flesh.

Each portrait is accompanied by a personally significant line, directly quoted or slightly warped from the snippets of thought, memory, and media that flit through my head as I draw. "Real and not fade away" is from the song "Not Fade Away" by the rolling stones, "Strange frequencies" a bastardization of "Strange Currencies" by R.E.M., and "Raised to an odd power" comes simply from a math problem I was helping my younger brother solve; a common turn of phrase that struck me as, out of context, sinister and magnetic — much like the portraits themselves.

Each one of the seven depicts Elvis' face not in its airbrushed youth, but drenched in the sweat of age, removed from fame and made further estranged by the accompanying decontextualized titles. My intent for these portraits is not yet clear to me, but the more of them I make, the more I come to love them... "like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue".