Burned Fingers: Series of 1,000

A thousand pieces. A single self-portrait.

Spanning over five years (1997–2002), Burned Fingers is an epic, mosaic-like body of work composed of 1,000 individual panels—each measuring 3.5 x 4 inches. Together, they form a monumental self-portrait that evolves across time, trauma, and introspection.

Through recurring visual motifs and emotional fragmentation, the series navigates psychological unrest, spiritual symbolism, and existential inquiry. Burned Fingers maps a terrain of personal crisis and cultural anxiety with obsessive precision. The work’s small scale invites intimacy, while its scale and scope demand reflection.

Technique + Process

Handmade over 5.5 years, each piece was created individually—allowing for raw immediacy, layered meaning, and a visual language shaped by time. When viewed together, the 1,000 components function as both artifact and archive.

What began as an experiment using my hand as a shadow grew into this series. As I started to show the works, people asked, “What number are you on?” That made me think about what a good target would be for the series. One hundred felt too small, 500 seemed reasonable, but 1,000 felt like a significant milestone.

As the series developed, certain numbers became conceptually relevant. Pieces 701–707, for example, depicted the seven deadly sins; 747 features an airplane; works ending in 69 are sexual. The small, immediate format allowed me to work quickly and the series became a visual diary reflecting my mood at the time.

Collage was introduced after a trip to China and the purchase of an acupuncture book. The fingers began to interact with the collage and figures, and the anatomy of the hands became more detailed and realistic. Having this simple framework and a clear end goal made for a very productive period: it allowed me to tinker in the studio and keep working even when I didn’t feel “inspired.” Often those sessions produced the strongest pieces.

installation view of all 1000 pieces in a long horizontal grid

Pieces 900-1,000

Pieces 800-899

Pieces 700-799

Pieces 600-699