Suspended Narratives
Developed during my residency at the Raymer Society’s Red Barn Studio in Lindsborg, Kansas, He Who Rules the Roost, Pulls the Strings is a surreal assemblage that explores hierarchy, control, and the absurdity of power through an eccentric cast of puppeteers, puppets, and hybrid creatures.
Part homage to Lester Raymer’s imaginative visual language, the work brings together two recurring motifs associated with his practice: roosters and circus puppeteers. At the center of this uncanny theatrical universe, an oversized rooster assumes the role of master puppeteer, presiding over a cast of human figures, a worm, a fish, and other surreal characters. Their exaggerated differences in scale establish a visual hierarchy, transforming the composition into a strange stage where authority and absurdity intertwine.
The painting evolved through an intuitive process of recombination, bringing together multiple paintings, found objects, and previously developed imagery over hours of experimentation. The puppet-like human heads began as live portrait-painting demonstrations before evolving into increasingly distorted, otherworldly figures. Through this process of assemblage, fragments of disparate realities converge into a single, suspended narrative that balances dark humor with the uncanny.
Perhaps the composition got a little out of hand—but that unruliness is part of its charm. I hope the work captures something of Raymer’s playful spirit, inventive sensibility, and delight in the wonderfully bizarre.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Red Barn Studio and the opportunity to create work in a place so deeply connected to Raymer’s legacy.
Learn more about Lester Raymer and the Red Barn Studio at redbarnstudio.org.